There's No Place Like the OZ
by Diabolicael
Summary: Dark Storm Sequel. Our fair DeeDee is once again pulled from her life and all she knows to do battle with the forces of evil. But in this new world, both strange and familiar, can she triumph without her Tin Man, Headcase, and Viewer by her side?
1. Twice Upon a Time

**Happiness never seems to last in the O.Z.. Our fair heroine is once again pulled from her life and all that she knows.**

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Today was a great day for the royal family. Queen Dorothy Gale III knelt at one end of the room, eyes shining, bottom lip caught between her teeth in an expression of excitement and trepidation. King Ambrose I stood off to one side, gangly arms clasped around his middle, watching the proceedings like a lanky hawk. At the opposite end of the room was Grand Duke Wyatt Cain, bent at the waist, preparing his pupil for this momentous test; a soft smile played at his rosy lips. 

"Go on," he coaxed gently. "Go to Mama."

Prince Wyatt Ambrose smiled widely, showing off all four of his teeth and pulled away from his father's supporting grasp. He toddled forward quickly, almost too quickly, nearly losing his balance. DeeDee opened her arms, beckoning her beautiful son come to her.

"C'mon, Button," she cooed. "Come to Mommy."

The child giggled happily and waddled into his mother's embrace. She hugged him close and nuzzled his ear and neck with soft kisses, his downy blonde hair tickling her cheek. Wyatt Ambrose squealed with joy, pressing his forehead to DeeDee's chest. Her heart felt ready to burst with the love she felt for her darling son. She could barely look at the boy without getting misty. And the mushy sentimentality of it didn't bother her one bit.

"Such a big boy!" she exclaimed proudly.

"Let's see if he can make it back," Glitch said, from his place not far from Cain. He had dropped to one knee and held out his hand. DeeDee turned the young prince in her arms so that he faced his dark haired father.

Glitch opened his mouth to speak, but Cain beat him to it. "Come to Dada, Wyatt," he called gently, now kneeling as well. Glitch's moth pursed in annoyance as he glanced at the fairer man.

"No," he said firmly and turned back to his wife and son. "Come to Papa."

The prince toddle forward a few steps before pausing, looking between the two men with a huge grin.

"Come on, Wyatt," Cain cooed with a grin of his own, pretending to ignore the other man. "Come to Dada."

"Come to _Papa_," Glitch insisted. DeeDee bit her lip again, this time to keep in the giggles that threatened to spill forth. Her husbands were never more adorable than when they competed over the attention of her son. Wyatt Ambrose squealed with delight and hurried forward. Unfortunately, he did not head for either Glitch or Cain, but instead shot straight towards the open door. Both men scrambled to their feet to catch the youngster before he could make his escape.

Cain got to him first and swung the babe into the air, drawing another shriek of joy. He then held his son out as Glitch pulled the child's shirt up and blew raspberries on his little round belly. It was the most wonderful thing DeeDee had ever seen. She had never been happier in her life, she thought, than at this moment.

The entire day had been utterly perfect, as a matter of fact. She had woken up to Glitch nuzzling her neck softly. Cain had risen early and gone to see to their child, leaving the King and Queen alone. Once DeeDee's eyes had opened, Glitch made slow, sweet love to her until she saw stars. Then, he had gone down to see to some kingly affairs and left her -with a loving kiss to her temple- to sleep a bit longer. She'd stirred and managed to force herself to crawl out of bed about an hour later. The shower had been hot and invigorating, but never more than when Cain found is way under the spray with her. He made her see stars as well, chuckling when she asked if it was her birthday and she'd forgotten.

And now, she knelt, watching the three men in her life - true Wyatt Ambrose was a little smaller than the other two, but still - and felt happy and whole and utterly contented. Not for the first time, DeeDee thought about her as yet unconceived second child. A boy, preferably. With dark hair, like herself and Glitch. She could almost see the child in her mind. A sweet faced little angel with raven locks and blue eyes. No, tawny. In her mind's eye, the boy grinned impishly at her, one eye Glitch's honey brown, the other her own sapphire blue. She smiled at the fanciful notion.

"You little sneak," Cain admonished his son with a chuckle, passing him to the other man. Wyatt Ambrose gurgled happily, kicking his feet at the air. A soft breeze ruffled his pale, pale hair. For a moment DeeDee didn't notice something off about that. Then it struck her. They were in an inner room in the palace, there were no windows. There should be no breeze.

"Glitch," she began. The dark-haired man looked to her, but whatever either of them might have said was lost as the soft breeze suddenly blasted the room like a hurricane. Glitch fell back against the wall nearest him, clutching the now screaming prince protectively. The wind blew around the room violent, tearing paintings off the walls, upending furniture. The roaring was so loud it hurt. All at once DeeDee felt a tug. Her eyes went wide with shock and fear. It was as though a giant hand had reached into her body and taken a firm grasp on her very soul. She gasped, reaching out for the man that had saved her time and again. The blonde forced his way towards her, fighting against the wind that tried to throw him back.

She felt the tug again, harder this time, and knew she could not fight it. Panicked she lurched towards her husband. "Cain!" she cried, pitifully. He reached for her, but the great invisible hand snatched her back and away.

"DeeDee!" the tin man roared. It was the last thing she heard, his shocked blue eyes the last thing she saw before crushing blackness overwhelmed her and that awful hand pulled her down into oblivion.

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**More to come soon. Dunno how soon, but soon. Promise. But you know.. it'll come faster if you make with the feedbacks.**


	2. Somewhere Over the Rainbow

**I do so love the feedbacks. So, here's chapter two. a little later than i'd planned, but still, not a bad update time.**

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DeeDee came back to herself with the oddest feeling of de ja vu. Laying flat on her back after being tossed about by harsh, swirling winds, no idea where she was… The young queen blinked up at the ceiling above her and realized with a start that she _did_ know where she was. She was still in the palace. The woman scrambled upright and saw that she was just outside the nursery where the wind had struck. It had only pulled her out into the hallway. That didn't make any sense. Why would a magical wind suddenly strike, only to knock her ten feet? She gasped, lunging for the now closed door and hands and knees. What if the purpose of the blast had been to separate her from the others? Without the woman there to protect them from whatever magic had been thrown their way, her family was vulnerable, defenseless. 

DeeDee twisted the knob, but the door was locked. She pounded on the heavy wood. "Cain? Glitch?" she cried, panic rising. "Open the door!" There was silence from the room. "Cain!"

Though she had been married to the man for nearly four years, whenever Dee was upset or frightened, she called him by the name she'd learned her first week in the O.Z., when he was her fiercest protector. Footsteps echoed down the corridor and four palace guards rushed to her aid.

"Your Highness, what's wrong?" an unfamiliar guard asked. He was the only brunette out of the bunch, with clear green eyes. Dee knew she had never seen him before. In fact, she did not recognize the other three either, but was too upset to notice or care.

"I need a key for this door. Now!" she ordered, pressing one hand flat against the wood as though she would be able to feel her family on the other side. The brunette guard shifted uncomfortably.

"Highness, why would you need the key to _this_ room?" he asked, eyes confused and more than a little worried.

"It's locked," she snapped, twisting the knob to illustrate. The men looked at each other uneasily.

"Yes, Highness. It's always locked," the man told her slowly. DeeDee scowled at him and he actually flinched. She did not dwell on it, but pushed to her feet, ignoring the way all four of them fell back a few paces.

"If you won't help me, I'll do it myself," she growled. She turned to face the door fully and gritted her teeth, taking a deep breath. That familiar, comforting tingle behind her heart spread warmth through her body, power pulsing against her senses.

One of the guards, one of two blondes, seemed to realize what she was about to do, for he suddenly stepped forward. "Your Highness, don't!"

It was useless. As the words left his mouth, Dee released the energy wave, focusing on the door before her. The floor shook as the heavy wood exploded into a shower of splinters with a deafening crash. The men fell back in fear and awe as bits of wood and dust fell all around them and the young queen.

DeeDee stepped into the room quickly. She knew that her demolition of the door was no risk to her husbands or son, as she had deliberately directed the blast outward. Fear still constricted her throat as she blindly ran a hand up the all aside the doorway, searching for the light switch. Neither Glitch, nor Cain had made so much as a whimper. Not even tiny Wyatt Ambrose had uttered a sound. Finally locating the switch, she flicked the lights on and was dumbstruck.

The nursery was gone. The large room instead housed a number of dust covered trunks and crates. One of those disturbing O.Z. spiders had made a home in an upper corner of the room and was eyeing her from its intricate, black web.

"Where are they?" the woman breathed.

"I tried to tell you, Highness. This is just a storage room," the green-eyed man told her plaintively from behind her. She could hear others fast approaching.

"Where is my family?" Dee demanded, still staring about the room in disbelieving shock. The footsteps halted outside the ruined doorway.

"Sir," the mouthy brunette guard said with stiff deference. "The situation is-"

"Where is my _family_?" she repeated, louder, anger rising to mingle with the cold fear pumping through her veins.

"Your Highness?" a firm, authoritative, and vaguely familiar voice asked. Finally, someone she knew. They would be able to help her. She turned towards the newcomer.

"Where is my son…" the final word died on her tongue as she lifted her eyes and came face to face with one of the monsters that haunted her dreams and made her cry out for Cain on the occasional cold, dark night - drenched in sweat.

"Zero?" she breathed, stepping back, further into the room.

"Princess," he reciprocated, ducking his head in a partial bow and taking a step towards her.

"How… how did you get here?" her eyes were wide as she continued to back away from the man.

"I heard the explosion and ran, your Highness." He spoke as though the question were entirely foolish, but he was humoring her anyway.

"But you… Cain…" the Queen stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence through the haze of shock that fogged her mind.

Zero's eyes narrowed. "Cain?" he asked, voice hard and demanding. He took a purposeful step towards her, one hand coming up.

"No!" she shrieked, falling back and tossing up a magical barrier by reflex alone. It was strong enough to knock the man back against the door frame. DeeDee pressed herself against a stack of crates, the wall of her barrier shimmering before her like gossamer.

A palace guard rushed forward to aid the stunned man and Dee pointed at Zero. "Seize him!" she commanded, voice quavering. In the back of her mind she understood how ridiculous the order sounded, but did not give a damn. For a moment the guard only stared at her. She repeated the command, her voice growing shrill with panic. Why weren't they listening to her? She was the Queen for fuck's sake!

"You heard the Princess," Zero snapped at the guards - there were ten of them now, and still not one familiar face, save that of the Longcoat. "Seize me. If that will calm her, do it now!" he ordered without even a hint of sarcasm or condescension. Two guards immediately flanked the man, each taking hold of one of his arms. A third stepped forward and relieved Zero of his sidearm - a painfully familiar six-shot revolver.

"What did you do to them?" Dee demanded, tears blurring her vision. She knew what Zero was capable of and thoughts of the awful things he might have done to her precious family threatened to steal her sanity.

"To whom, Your Highness?" he asked, sounding far to calm and reasonable.

"My husbands and son!" she shouted, slamming a fist against the crate at her back.

"Your Highness, what-" the other blonde guard tried to speak, but the enraged monarch cut him off.

"Where are they?!" she shrieked, the words half broken, almost sobs. "What have you done with Cain and Glitch? Where is Wyatt Ambrose, you son of a bitch?!"

One of the men suddenly gasped and raced from the room. Dee barely noticed his departure.

"Your Highness, I haven't done anything to anyone," Zero insisted, calmly, his gaze never wavering from her own.

"Then what are you doing here? How did you even get out?" she demanded. The man's brow furrowed ever so slightly in what looked like, but could not _possibly_ be, confusion.

"Get out?" he parroted back. She ignored his attempt to toy with her mind. He knew full well what she was talking about.

"Why are you here?"

"It's my job, Your Highness," he told her, matter-of-factly. There was -yet again- the sound of footfalls hurrying towards the room. The guard that had left in such a rush reappeared in much the fashion with which he left - wide eyes and hurried movements. He was joined by a gangly man with raven locks and tawny eyes.

"Glitch!" she cried, launching herself at the man, throwing her arms about his neck. If Glitch was alright, then Cain and her baby son would be alright as well. Her knees were weak with sheer relief, sagging against her husband bonelessly. The man's hands came up to rest on her hips, but he did not pull her close, did not embrace her, did not bury his face in her hair as he had everyday since she met him in the giant bird cage the insane turkey-men of the Eastern Guild had imprisoned them within. His posture was rail stiff and he even leaned slightly away from her.

DeeDee pulled back, her hands slipping off of the shiny, smooth green silk vest. She took in the differences she had not noticed at first, so happy was she to see her beloved Glitch. His hair was shorter, slicked back smooth in lustrous waves. His shoulders were back, his back straight as an arrow. His mouth, usually curved in that sweet, mischievous Glitch smile was pinched and turned down. And, most telling of all, those lovely, toffee colored eyes gazed at her coldly, without a trace of the warmth she so loved and depended on.

"You're not Glitch," she told the man before her, her dark eyebrows bunching in confusion and betrayal.

"No, I'm Ambrose," the man told her. Even his voice was cold and distant. Dee took a step back from him.

"You're not _my_ Ambrose," she declared, a horrible sense of dread washing over her as everything clicked into place. She gazed pleadingly into the eyes of this man who looked like her friend and lover and husband, but was not. "Where _am_ I?"

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**Now review, honkies! The more reviews i get, the faster i update.**


	3. Proof

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Well, that took longer than I would have liked. the next chapter will be here faster.. i think. im almost positive. thnkx for the feedback and keep it coming. get ready from some dramatic stuff in this chappy!

The man who called himself Ambrose looked at DeeDee as a weary parent would a misbehaving child.

"You are in the Palace at Central City, Princess," he told her, his tone. Too, that of the long suffering parent.

"Central City?" Dee parroted, mind whirring. "I don't understand. How can this be? The same place, the same people, but it's all wrong!"

Ambrose -but, not _her _Ambrose- sighed, rolling his eyes slightly and gently took hold of the confused woman's upper arm.

"Come, Princess," he said, moving as if to lead her from the room. "I'll escort you to your mother."

Dee pulled from his grasp. "She's not my mother and I am not your princess!" the woman insisted.

The dark-haired man's patience was wearing thing. Fine, dark brows drew together, pink lips tightened, and tawny eyes sparked with irritation. His cold voice was firm when he spoke, indicating he'd had enough. "Dorothy-"

"I'm _not_ Dorothy," Dee cut him off, voice raising in burgeoning desperation. "My name is DeeDee. And I'm _not_ your princess; I am Queen."

The guards shifted uncomfortably and looked to each other as if lost. They obviously thought she was crazy. Zero alone seemed to be taking in what she said. He looked at her intently from where the other two still restrained him. Ambrose sighed with annoyance, one long-fingered hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"You are not a Queen. You are Dorothy Gale, Princess of Oz. And you are severely trying my patience just now," The man told her, voice hard with warning.

"Oz?" the young Queen asked, then told them men, "I am Queen of the O.Z.."

Ambrose snapped at her. "You know full well this realm has not been called the O.Z. in ten annuals. You will stop this nonsense at once, Dorothy."

Dee momentarily wondered just how things worked in Oz that Ambrose could speak to a princess this way. "I'm not Dorothy! I'm DeeDee!" she shouted, at her wit's end. How could she make him see? Then it struck her. She _could_ make him see. _See_. If the Princess Dorothy Gale had never married Glitch or Cain, then she never would have given birth to Wyatt Ambrose. "I can prove it!"

She quickly yanked her blouse from the waist of her floor length, navy shirt, fingers flying over the buttons (from the bottom, up) to get it open enough. Dee pulled the half undone shirt aside and tugged the waist of her shirt down, displaying the scar she carried from the Cesarean section she'd needed when there had been complications during her labor with the young prince.

The guards all looked utterly scandalized; some averted their eyes, others stared in horror as if unable to look away. Ambrose looked livid, like he was about to step forward and strangle her. Zero looked... at her scar.

"How did you get that?" he asked. Before Dee could answer, Ambrose grabbed her hands, pulling them away from her clothing roughly, and yanked her shirt back down.

"For the love of Ozma, Dorothy!" he growled, taking hold of her arm again. This time, his grip was like a vice, long fingers biting into her flesh as he dragged her from the room.

"I'm not-"

"Shut your mouth," he barked. His voice was so sharp, Dee actually obeyed for the moment. This man was so _not_ like her sweet Glitch, she had no idea what he might do if pushed.

The tawny-eyed man stalked down the corridors, long leg's moving quickly so that the shorter woman practically had to jog to keep up. She recognized the route he was talking and knew he was dragging her to his work shop. Once there, Ambrose slammed the door with force enough to rattle the heavy wood on its hinges. Only then did he release her, fairly flinging his charge away from himself.

"What do you mean by it?" he demanded on a shout. "Proclaiming yourself Queen? All but stripping down before palace guards? Explain yourself!"

Dee did not back down, though part of her wanted to. Glitch had never become angry with her like this, had never even raised his voice (save for that one night in the library so long ago). Seeing _his_ face twisted with fury, as it was now, was truly disturbing. But the Queen stood her ground. She lifted her shirt again.

"Does your Dorothy have this scar?" she demanded. The man's eyes, glowing gold in his anger, burned into her own defiant blue. "Does she?"

"Dorothy," he began, taking a step forward, his movements smooth and dangerous.

"_Look at it!_" she commanded, summoning up all her royal authority and pouring it into the order. His eyes flicked down. Every ounce of color drained from the man's face, leaving it white as the snow around the Ice Palace. His mouth fell open in shock and when he looked up at her, his expression was devastated.

"My Gods," he breathed, looking as though he might collapse at Dee's feet. "You're not my Princess."

"No, I'm not," she agreed, brows furrowing slightly in concern reflexively. She was ready to catch him if he did actually pass out, just not sure she could hold his weight.

"Who _are_ you?" he demanded weakly.

"I am Queen Dorothy Gale III, of the O.Z.," Dee told him. "But really, I'm just DeeDee and I'm a long way from home."

"How did you get here?" he asked breathlessly. Dee thought he looked very like she'd felt the first time she fell into the O.Z. - shell-shocked.

"I don't know."

He frowned. "How can you not know?"

The way the question was intoned made it sound like he man was accusing her of lying. The woman bristled. "It's not like I had any choice in the matter. One minute I'm with my family in the nursery, the next I'm here."

"That's not possible. People don't just _fall_ from one world to the next," Ambrose said, brows furrowing.

"It's not only _possible_, but interdimensional travel isn't nearly as rare as one might think." It was only after she said it that Dee wondered where the words came from. It sounded like something Glitch would say. Of course! He'd told her that very thing the day they met. The young Queen felt a pang of longing for her husband, cursing the man before her for looking and sounding like him, but not _being_ him.

Ambrose's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Where did you hear that? He demanded. His voice was soft, but foreboding.

"_My_ Ambrose told it to me," she said, lifting her chin.

"What would a Princess need to know of interdimensional travel?"

He _did_ think she was lying. DeeDee's eyes flashed with outrage. "Enough to know when she's been pulled form her own into someone else's," she snapped, almost snarkily.

"Pulled? You think someone stole you away from your dimension and brought you here?" He could not have sounded more incredulous if she'd told him she was his father.

"That's the only explanation."

"Not quite."

Dee's brows furrowed in consternation. "What other explanation could there be?" she challenged.

"You could be lying," he challenged back, then expounded. "The easiest way for a person to prove they are from another realm would be by being an alternate version of someone else. You look like our Dorothy Gale, but are possessing of a scar which she is not. However, the odds of such a phenomenon are astronomical. It is far more likely that you are an enemy of the crown and, knowing all Slippers must go before the Queen, have altered your appearance and concocted this ridiculous back story."

The woman could only stare at him, infuriated beyond words at his cynical theory. It was like dealing with the Eastern Guild all over again!

"It's a clever plan - I must admit - but easily foiled," his pink lips curved into a sardonic smirk, tawny eyes half-lidded and radiating superiority. The Queen's own blue eyes narrowed.

"What are you going to do?" She did not like the way he was looking at her. It was almost anticipatory.

"The logical thing, _Your Majesty_." He used her proper title like a snide jab and she ground her teeth over his arrogance. "Call for a Viewer."

Dee crossed her arms, glaring at him defiantly. "Good. Let's get this over with."

Ambrose used his workshop's intercom to summon a Viewer to settle the issue. The time between the call and the Viewer's arrival was spent in tense silence. When she grew bored with glaring at the smug man, Dee let her eyes wander over the room. It was wholly familiar and yet wholly different. Both men had bits of machinery, gears, wheels, tools, and plans strewn about in a haphazard fashion. Glitch had assured her that he had a system and knew exactly what and where everything was, down to the last screw. She, herself, had no idea what any of the projects in either man's workshops were, only that Ambrose's bits and pieces were different from Glitch's pieces and bits.

A knock sounded at the door and Ambrose called for the Viewer to enter. When Dee saw him, she gasped and almost fainted. "Lylo!"

The beast-man paused, surprised by her presence, and bowed. He looked almost exactly as she remembered, though unmistakably healthier and in finer dress.

"Your Highness," he greeted her formally. Ambrose grinned in snide amusement.

"She isn't the Princess," he told Lylo, who cast Dee a look of puzzlement.

"If not the Princess, then who?" the Viewer asked.

"That's what you're here to discover," Ambrose told him. "She says she is an alternate dimensional version of Dorothy Gale."

DeeDee heard all of this as though underwater. Her mind replayed another of those nightmares that plagued her from time to time - Lylo, her own world's Lylo, and that awful blank look on his face just before he passed out. Before he died. She just stared at him while he and Ambrose spoke. And then he was stepping towards her and reaching out.

"No!" she cried, flinging herself back. The raven-haired woman fell back against a worktable, knocking several partially completed (dismantled?) machines over, one fell to the floor with a metallic clang. Lylo actually stepped back from her, looking worried. Ambrose only smirked.

"Not so cavalier now, Your Majesty?" he jibed. "What happened to all that bravado?"

"He can't," she gasped, hands gripping the table so hard they turned white. The Viewer glanced fretfully between Dee and the gloating man.

"Something wrong with Lylo?" the beast asked, seemingly insulted. He insisted, "Lylo is finest Viewer to royal family."

"There is nothing wrong with you, Lylo," Ambrose reassured him. "This little pretender just does not want to be found out," he said, turning back to Dee, who shook her head.

"I killed him!" the woman said, voice loud and pleading. Lylo looked appalled, Ambrose incensed. He stalked over to her, snatching her by the arm for the second time. The tall man pulled her across the room and sat her roughly down in the chair behind his desk.

"That's enough of your games," he ground out, beckoning Lylo over. The angry man had to hold Dee down in the chair as she tried in vain to pull away when the Viewer moved to her side.

"No! No!" she shrieked, eyes welling up with tears of fear and panic. "Don't do this, please!"

And then Lylo laid his hand on her head and her struggles ceased as he forced his way into her mind. With none of her mother's magic to keep him out, the beast-man was free to search through her thoughts and memories at his leisure. All she could do was sob in the chair, Ambrose's hands restraining her ungently. Lylo gasped, his dark, almost black eyes flying to the man's tawny ones.

"She speaks truth!" the furry man exclaimed in shock. Long fingers tightened on Dee's arms painfully.

"_What?_" Ambrose demanded. He released her then, yanking out a desk drawer and pulling out a hand mirror. He set it on the desk, propping it against a stack of books. "Show me," he ordered the Viewer. Lylo immediately complied, touching the mirror. The looking glass flashed and swirled with color before solidifying quickly into one of Dee's worst memories. Herself and Lylo, Azkadellia hovering behind, and Dr. Strange with his damned cattle prod.

"Noooo!" the young Queen moaned, unable to stop the two of them from forcing her to relive one of the most horrible days of her life.

"Don't try, _do_!" Azkadellia ordered in the mirror and in her mind.

"Stop, Azkadellia! How can he remember when I can't?" DeeDee herself shouted in Lylo's image. Ambrose's hand was squeezing her arm, leaving bruises she would find later.

"What it mean?" Lylo, the flesh and blood Lylo who stood beside her asked the man. Ambrose only shook his head. The memory went on.

Memory Lylo whimpered in fear and pain. "Hurts to reach into her memories. Memories surrounded by… Magic."

"Lylo?!" memory-DeeDee cried as the Viewer slumped over, unconscious. "No! Lylo!"

The very much alive Lylo gasped and pulled his hands away, the image in the mirror snapping into nothing.

"Keep going!" Ambrose barked harshly. "It could be a trick. Show me more. Show me _all_ her memories."

More afraid of the Advisor's wrath than Dee's disturbing memories, Lylo complied, replacing his hands on her skull and the mirror. He flitting through her mind, from one memory to the next, showing bits and snippets of her life in a chaotic jumble of images. Her life on the farm in Kansas, learning to make the doll spin with Toto and Kady, the twister that brought her the waters of Finaqua, finding Cain in his iron suit, the blackness of being entombed in green marble. Now she was a child running through a hedge maze, now a child sitting in a school room, taking a spelling test. She knelt and accepted the crown at her coronation. Here she screamed into another twister, dragging her far, far from home. Here she cried and cried on Cain's chest after learning her mother was not her mother; there Cain cried against her stomach next to Adora's grave. Azkadellia the witch, Kady the sister; Ahamo the loving father, the Seeker. She kissed Glitch sweetly under that oak-like tree, kissed him again in the huge bed they shared. She hung from the monkey bars on the playground, she hung by her fingertips from the tower balcony. Wyatt's mouth moved over her throat-

"Get out of my _head_!" The woman pushed with all the strength she could muster, forcefully ejecting the Viewer from her mind. The mirror shattered, spewing shards of glass all over the desk. Lylo jumped back and even Ambrose was shocked enough to release her. DeeDee pushed up from the chair and backed away from the desk, blue eyes streaming tears, breath coming in gulping gasps.

"She really from a different world!" the Viewer breathed, dark eyes gaping at her in awe. Ambrose glared at her with heavy loathing and said nothing. She turned from them both, leaning a hand on the wall, wiping at her eyes as she tried to get herself under control. She felt thoroughly violated, sullied. All she wanted to do was crawl into a hot, hot bath - so hot it might scald her - and scrub until she felt clean again. Instead, the young Queen pulled herself together and wiped the tears away. She squared her shoulders and took a steadying breath, then turned back to the two males.

"Satisfied?" she asked, chin up, jaw tight. Ambrose nodded, swallowing hard. The utter hate she saw in his eyes made her long for her loving, sweet Glitch so much it physically ached. "Now what?"

"Now," Ambrose said. His voice was choked and he cleared his throat before continuing. "You go before Queen Illiancara."

Dee bit back a sound of displeasure. Wonderful. If this world's Illiancara was anything like her own spiteful mother, the young Slipper could only imagine how well an audience with her would go.

"Well, fuck beans."

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**See? Dramatic no? Now feed me! heehee**


	4. Diplomacy is Overated

**That's right people, it's time to meet the alternate version of everyone's favorite monarch! Enjoy!**

Being presented to Illiancara as a Slipper and not her daughter proved to DeeDee that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This Queen treated her with the same chilly, polite derision as her own mother only more so. Dee could only imagine how the older woman would have behaved towards her if she- Dee - really _had been_ the princess.

"So, this is the Slipper," Illiancara asked Ambrose, who stood beside Dee in the vast Royal Audience Hall. The huge, ornate throne sat up on a raised dais and was meant to humble those brought before the monarchy, but, looking up at this carbon copy of her mother, Dee was anything but intimidated. Ambrose had bowed low and formally to his Queen upon their arrival in the great hall and now, he dipped his head again in deference.

"Yes, Your Majesty. She is Queen Dorothy Gale III of the Outer Zone in a separate dimension from Oz."

"And what proof has she?" The elder Queen seemed unimpressed, regarding Dee as little more than a minor and momentary irritation to be dealt with.

"Viewer Lylo has read the Slipper and confirms her identity and memories."

DeeDee noticed a certain coolness between Illiancara and her Royal Advisor which had not existed between her mother and Glitch. Not until after Dee had announced her two-for-one engagement, anyway.

"And how, exactly, did she persuade you to facilitate a reading, Advisor Ambrose? This woman is identical to the Princess DG. Why would you not believe this to be another of her usual ploys for attention? It seems you should be familiar with those, as we all are."

DeeDee was shocked. Not only by the bluntness of the question, but how disparaging it was towards the woman's own child. They were not even in a closed room; several government officials and various sycophants were in attendance. In her own world, Illiancara was nothing if not discreet about the bad blood between mother and daughter. This woman seemed to flaunt it. And then there was the tone of the inquiry that seemed directed at Ambrose himself. As if by giving Dee's story any credence, he had made a fool of himself.

"The Queen has a scar, Your Majesty, which your daughter does not." The raven-haired man's voice was cold and distant. Dee did not have to look at him to know his expression would be just as closed off as it had been when she threw her arms around his neck, thinking him to be her husband. Lavender eyes narrowed in that cat-like way the Slipper was familiar with, signaling the elder woman's displeasure - both when Ambrose called DeeDee "Queen" and referred to Dorothy Gale as Illiancara's daughter (as opposed to the impersonal "the Princess").

"A scar? Really?" the ruler of Oz said, managing to sound incredulous as well as unimpressed this time. "Where?"

Ambrose hesitated. DeeDee could tell, just from that little pause, that the subject made him uncomfortable, for whatever reason. And for whatever reason, the elder Queen seemed determined to jab at him like a cruel child with a sharp stick. Dee was not the biggest fan of this Ambrose; the man was ill-tempered and seemed to harbor an unreasonable hatred - or at least deep dislike- of her. However, the somewhat sadistic pleasure she could see in Illiancara's eyes turned the younger woman's stomach and set her resolve in stone.

DeeDee's relationship with her own mother was strained at best, but she did her best to keep it at least civil. She tried not to hate her mother, though she deserved it, for the sake of her father and sister. She owed it to them to make that effort. But she had no such obligation here in Oz, as this foul woman was not her mother. She was free to feel as much loathing and animosity as she damn well pleased. So, when Ambrose hesitated, Dee took over. She was bored with them speaking of her as though she were not in the room, anyway.

"It's a Caesarian scar from the birth of my son," she told the elder woman, using the very official, even regal tone she had developed for dealing with difficult government officials in her role as Queen of the O.Z.. Wyatt teasingly referred to it as her Royal Voice. It came with a regal posture, hard eyes, and a partially lifted brow, free of charge.

Illiancara's lavender eyes flicked toward her for the first time since she, Dee, had entered the hall and her lips curved upwards in a little, unpleasant smile.

"A fairly intimate mark, then," the woman commented. She practically cooed it. This did not bode well. "I wonder why you would think my Advisor would be familiar with such a scar - or the lack of one - on the body of a Princess." Several people around the room adopted expressions of snide amusement and at least one or two snickered quietly. It was easy to see that the Queen of Oz was greatly enjoying her little dig. "Perhaps because _your_ Ambrose is just as knowledgeable."

It was then that the Slipper realized the elder woman was not only essentially calling her easy, but insinuating Glitch was a letch or something of the like. She could feel the discomfort coming off the man at her side, though she knew he showed no outward sign of it. The young Queen decided to knock that smug look of the old bag's royal mug.

She lifted her chin a fraction and spoke loudly and clearly enough that no one in the room could misunderstand her. "_My_ Ambrose is my husband." She paused for a fraction of a second so that would hit the snickering bastards around the room. Then, she added the cherry on top. "And _King_ of the O.Z.."

Only Dee's eyes showed her satisfaction as a chorus of quiet gasps went up around the room, followed by excited murmuring. She could sense Ambrose's surprise and thought he might have looked at her in shock, but the Slipper did not take her eyes off the Queen - who just now was quite successfully hiding her seething anger. DeeDee knew it was there, though. And Illiancara knew that she knew.

"How is it you came to be Queen at such a young age?" the older woman asked, her voice like a frigid wind, obviously no longer enjoying herself with nothing with which to mock her "guest."

"My mother stepped down from the throne not long after I was wed," Dee told her.

"And why would the crown pass to you? Is there no Azkadellia in your O.Z.?"

There was no point in lying or refusing to tell this Queen and her snide gallery how she had come to be Queen. Ambrose and Lylo already knew everything. Or almost everything. "In my realm, an ancient sorceress was imprisoned within a cave at Finaqua." The young Queen went on the relate an extremely truncated version of the witch's rise to power, her attempt to destroy the O.Z. and DeeDee's own role in defeating her. The gallery listened in rapt attention, apparently losing the will and desire to mock the Slipper. When Dee finished her tale - leaving out a few key elements, such as her part in freeing the crone - Illiancara looked to Lylo. The Viewer stood, looking acutely uncomfortable, not far from the dais. Dee thought he was counting the seconds until he could bolt from the room. The furry beast-man nodded, confirming the story as truth. The elder Queen turned back to Dee, a falsely impressed smile plastered on her fair countenance.

"Well, my dear, you seem to be quite the adventuress." The words were respectful, but it was all bullshit. The ruler was just trying to save face before her sycophants.

"There may be the same witch in Oz," Dee warned the Queen. But the older woman only laughed softly.

"My dear, I have spent long years studying the Ancients. There is no such sorceress in my Kingdom."

"My mother was just as versed in the Ancients and she had no knowledge of-"

"There is no witch at Finaqua," Illiancara snapped, hating to be contradicted just as Dee's mother did. Then, sensing her mistake, she softened her voice and added, "But, if it will put your mind at ease, I will have my historians look into the matter." Dee wanted to insist the Queen send a military force out to investigate the cave she knew was there, but the older woman's smile brightened as if a wonderful idea had just come to her. "I shall have to hold a ball to honor your heroism. A grand affair, here at the palace, in a month's time."

The hall erupted in applause and loud chattering as people began to discuss the upcoming event excitedly. Dee raised her voice to be heard above the din.

"I need no such honor, Your Majesty," she insisted. "All I desire is to go home."

A month? For fuck's sake, she didn't want to stay in this surreal soft-core Hell another day, let alone a _month. _Illiancara was not pleased. A chill wind actually _did_ blow through the hall then, reminding Dee that this woman had not given up her power and light to save a prematurely murdered daughter. The room fell silent instantly.

"Home?" the Queen parroted back, voice smooth, but obviously displeased. "How do you intend to find your way back?"

This question brought Dee's mind to a screeching halt. How the Hell was she supposed to get back? Traveling between the O.Z. and the Other Side had be treated like a very ordinary occurrence to everyone she'd met since that fateful night the Longcoats came for her. Glitch had specifically said that interdimensional travel was common enough. He had never said it was controllable though. Oh God, she felt ill. But there had to be a way. There _must. _Glitch would know how to…

"Ambrose." The word popped from her mouth before her mind could process her entire thought. Illiancara's eyebrows soared.

"Ambrose?"

Dee turned to look at the man and found him staring at her with an unreadable expression. Her blue eyes shone at him, seemingly filled with every hope she'd ever had. She had complete faith in her husband's abilities, his scientific mind was unparalleled. If her Glitch was genius enough to find a way, surely this Ambrose would be, too. But he just looked at her and she could not see what he was thinking.

"Advisor Ambrose," the Queen repeated, calling to him from her throne. "Surely there is nothing you can do, as skilled as you are. There are countless unplotted dimensions." She would have gone on, but the lanky man turned back towards the throne.

"I may be able to find a way," he informed his Queen. "There may be a way," he said, more quietly, almost to himself. The ruler of Oz stared at her Advisor. DeeDee could see the wheels turning in her head. Finally, the Queen seemed to come to a decision.

"Very well, Ambrose," she said, briskly. "It shall be your responsibility to help the Queen find her way home. In fact, to facilitate this endeavor, I shall suspend all your other duties until such time as Her Majesty is safely away to her Realm. However long that may take." Lavender eyes turned back to Dee and she could see the haughty triumph in their sparkling depths. "My dear, should you need anything, just ask Ambrose. He'll see to your every necessity." More snickering. Dee could not help but feel that she was missing something very important about the dynamic between the Queen and her Advisor, but could not even begin to guess what it was. "And, if you are still among us in a month's time, you shall be the honored guest at my ball."

With that, the Queen rose and everyone in the room - save DeeDee herself - bowed low as she exited the hall. People began to file out and soon it was only Dee and Ambrose, side by side, in the empty hall. She turned to the man.

"I… I just got you fired, didn't I?"

The apparently Ex-Royal Advisor faced her, pink lips curving into a sardonic half smile. "A little bit."

Dee's eyes scrunched shut as she grimaced. "Oh my God, Ambrose. I am so sorry!" She raked a hand through her hair, stomach tightening. Sure the guy had been a douche to her, but she didn't want to destroy his _life_ for fuck's sake!

"I'll just have to be sure I get you home, that's all," he said. His voice was still stiff and cold, but Dee could not fault him for it. She had probably just caused him the most trouble he'd ever had in his life. Now, he had a reason to dislike her. He took a step back and swept his arm towards the great double doors of the hall. "Come, Your Majesty. Let us find you a room for your stay in Oz."

_However long it may be._

**There. You enjoyed it. Now review. The more reviews I get, the faster I update. Really.**


	5. Hard Questions With Harder Answers

**Okay, all. Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long, but it won't dissappoint. Hopefully the next one will come faster. Enjoy.**

DeeDee sat behind Ambrose's desk, watching him pour over the half dozen dusty tomes he'd pulled from various book shelves across the room. His fine, dark brows were furrowed and his pink bottom lip was more often than not caught between his teeth, chewing it as he worked over the conundrum of getting her home. Dee couldn't decide if it made her miss Glitch more when he was acting like her husband- as he was now - or when he was looking at her with hate in his eyes.

"Why do you think my living on the Other Side has something to do with me ending up here?" the Queen asked, for the lanky man had just expressed such a theory.

"Different dimensions resonate on different planar frequencies. So the creatures and objects within a dimension would also resonate on that frequency. Living for so long in a dimension that was not your own might - or probably did - effect your natural resonance; changed it to more closely match that of the Other Side. Then, returning to your O.Z. could have altered it again. Thrown out of sync as you were, you might have just fallen through a weak spot in the dimensional barrier between your world and ours."

Dee was surprised to find that she could actually follow the logic in his explanation. She'd picked up more than she thought living with Glitch and his inventions.

"Didn't feel like I fell. Felt like I was pulled."

Ambrose looked up t her, his expression irritated." I don't mean literally fell. It-"

"I know. I get it, really." She was not up to arguing with him. "I was just saying there are other possibilities. It felt like I was pulled. And there was a wind. It was all really violent." The man just expelled a dismissive huff of air and went back to his book.

DeeDee thought about that wind and how the Longcoats had come for her during the tornado. Her father had told her he'd been caught up in a freak storm and some how ended up in the O.Z..

"Why do twisters only happen on the Other Side?" she found herself asking.

"What?" He didn't look up.

"My first night back in the O.Z., there was a storm. Glitch asked me why I was nervous about it and I told him I had a fear of tornadoes."

"really?" This time he did raise his eyes from the text, looking and sounding very like Glitch had when she'd told him the same thing, minus the air of friendship and concern. Her expression pinched with indignation.

"Well, they're freaking terrifying," she insisted, extremely tired of having to justify her feelings. "Horrible, destructive - do you realize the devastation one of those can cause? It's awful! So, yes, I have a perfectly _reasonable_ fear." She paused, then added. "Reasonable for the Other Side."

"I didn't say your fear was unfounded, Your Majesty. I was merely surprised to hear you admit to it," he told her, simply. Dee blinked at him.

"Why?"

Ambrose appeared to contemplate whether or not to answer her. "Your Ozian counterpart, Princess Dorothy Gale, would never admit to such a thing." He seemed about to say more, but thought better of it. "What was your original question?"

"When I told Glitch my fear, he told me that twisters only happen on the Other Side 'because', but he never finished the explanation and I never thought to ask him again."

"The Other side is a sort of hub dimension. There are perhaps millions of various gateways to other worlds in that Realm." _Oh, well, that explains Alice in Wonderland and Narnia, don't it?_ "A naturally occurring gateway is fairly benign, but when a rift is created by force, a tremendous amount of energy is used and must be expelled. On the Other Side, this expulsion of energy manifests in the form of twisters."

"Ooooh!" Dee smiled over the new understanding she had of an old terror which had been as fascinating as it was frightening. "Thank you for explaining."

_He_ blinked now. Dee wondered, yet again, just what kind of person the Princess Dorothy Gale was. _Must be a real charmer._

"You're welcome, Majesty."

The young monarch sighed quietly. "Could you, please, not call me that?"

His midnight brows furrowed. "You are a queen and should be addressed with the proper deference and respect."

"I'm not a Queen here in Oz, Ambrose. I'm just another Slipper," she told him. "I'm not much of a queen in the O.Z. really."

"How is that?" He seemed truly disbelieving of that statement.

"I spent most of my life on the Other Side, living in a little farm house. I had no idea how to run a country when I became Queen. Without Glitch, I'd be completely lost."

"Is that why you married your mother's advisor?"

DeeDee looked appalled. "Fuck no!" she exclaimed. Ambrose's eyebrows shot up towards his hairline. _She doesn't swear either?_ "I married Glitch because I love him. I can't imagine life without him."

Her stomach tightened, saying it reminded her that it was precisely what she was facing if Ambrose could not find a way. The man's face immediately hardened at her mention of love. He seemed to close up right before her eyes. When he spoke again, Ambrose's voice was again that familiar cold and distant.

"Why do you call your husband 'Glitch'?"

"When I met him as an adult, he was a headcase," Dee said, her voice taking on an almost wistful tone. Ambrose had looked down at his book, but his eyes immediately snapped back up.

"He was a _convict_?" Now, it was the ex-Advisor's turn to sound appalled. The woman chuckled.

"No, no, no." Her lips curved slightly upwards as she remembered the silly, but sincere man who had befriended her when she was so alone and lost. "Before the Witch took over the O.Z., she killed off the Fields of the Papay. Which prompted Glitch to invent a machine he called the Sunseeder. The idea was to slow the suns and extend the growing season."

"He did _what_?" The man sounded outraged and horrified. "Altering the rotation of planets? My Gods, what was he thinking?"

Dee had thought the same thing once or twice, but immediately defended her husband. "People were _dying_, Ambrose. Some one had to do something."

He gave a short, unhappy sigh. "True enough. But to be so bold, so arrogant. It just…" he trailed off. At a loss for words.

"Doesn't sound like you," she finished his thought. Ambrose's expression betrayed his surprise at her insight, but he nodded. DeeDee agreed. "I thought it was a touch out of character myself. I don't think it was originally his idea. Maybe my mother's or another scientist. Hell, it could have even been Azkadellia." She shrugged.

"What does the Sunseeder have to do with m- him being a headcase?" He finished the question with nothing to indicate the slip, but Dee had caught it. He'd almost said, "me".

"When the Witch overthrew Illiancara, she tried to steal the blueprints for the machine. Her plan was to use it to lock the suns behind the moon and permanently darken the O.Z..

"Glitch destroyed the plans and when she captured him, he refused to help her. So, she took his brain and left him wandering the O.Z. with no home, no memories, and no name."

"And you remembered him from when you were a child?"

"Oh, no," Dee's expression soured. "My Queenly mother decided to lock up my memories with a magical deadbolt. I didn't find out we had a shared past until later and even then, I had no memories of it for months." The woman blinked to herself. "Huh. I never realized before how alike he and I were in those days. No memories, no real identity." She shook off the recognition and finished her original thought. "I just believed he was a good man and he really cared about me, right from the beginning."

How strange she should be telling these things to Ambrose, when she hadn't spoken of them to anyone - not even Kady. Ambrose only looked at her, his expression as unreadable as it had been in the great Hall, then went back to his book.

This man was a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, dipped in a boiling vat of _what the fuck?!_ and served on a stick shoved directly up his ass. She couldn't begin to fathom what his problem with her was - his original problem, not the trouble she'd caused between him and his Queen. She was further confused by his inquiries about her life. He seemed not to care, yet kept asking and the more he learned, the more he seemed to despise her.

She watched him, flipping back and forth through the pages, jotting down notes every so often and hoped he would live up to her unwavering faith in Glitch - which had become her faith in him as well. She really wanted to get out of Bizzaro World. Dee's lips curved into a silly smile. _Why don't they all have mustaches like in Star Trek?_ Try as she might, she couldn't picture Glitch/Ambrose with mustaches. Wyatt, she'd already seen fully bearded like a scruffy mountain man.

"Where is Dorothy Gale?" she asked as soon as the thought struck her, stomach dipping with anxiety. Ambrose looked up sharply.

"Why?" he demanded, eyes suspicious.

"You don't think she could have gotten sucked into the O.Z. when I came here, do you?"

He relaxed and cast her a look of condescension. "No, she wouldn't have." Dee started to speak, but the man anticipated her question and spoke over her. "If the two of you had switched places, you would have landed in the location she left. Dorothy Gale resides in the Northern Island Palace. She rarely leaves and never to come here."

His tone seemed bitter, which she took as a cue to stop asking questions about things that really were none of her business anyway. Once his hurtful eyes were focused on the tome before him again, Dee stood. She was bored out of her skull, anxious and very unhappy. Sitting still with only her thoughts to occupy her was a subtle kind of torture.

The young Queen wandered around the workshop, looking over Ambrose's inventions, trying to distract herself by puzzling over the purpose of each. She was rather clueless, which made her smile sadly, thinking about Glitch would always explain exactly what each of his gadgets did and how they did it.

She came to a cleared space on a particularly cluttered table near the door and paused. In the middle of the space was a metallic cube about the size of a softball. It was covered in some kind of runic symbols that were nearly invisible on the cube's surface. Dee knew better than to pick it up - even the most innocuous of objects in an Eglantine lab could turn out dangerous.

She was about to ask what the cube was when the door - just behind her on the left - opened. Expecting a messenger for Ambrose, she didn't turn to face the newcomer and was taken by surprise when she heard a small, young, hopeful voice."

"Mother?"

Dee spun around and nearly fainted. Behind her stood a child of about nine or ten, with a shock of short raven hair that curled wildly. Porcelain skinned and sweet faced, the boy looked up at her with wide eyes - one fawn colored, the other sapphire blue.

"Sweet Jesus," she breathed, falling back against the table. Was she hallucinating? He couldn't be real.

"Mother?" the boy repeated, his smooth brow furrowing in almost injured confusion. He started to step towards her. Dee's heart stopped. If her little figment touched her, she thought her mind might break.

"Elliot," Ambrose said in a gently admonishing tone. "You know your mother never comes to the palace. What are you doing here?"

The boy immediately turned to him. "I'm sorry, Father."

_Father?! _Dee tried to curb her profanity around Wyatt Ambrose and the unconscious habit kept her from shouting "Fuck me!". She only mouthed it, instead.

"It's bed time and you weren't there to tuck me in."

The man's eyes shot to the clock above the door. He looked instantly contrite. "I'm sorry, Doll. I lost track of the time."

"Again," the boy muttered, sadly. Then, louder, he said, "I know. It's why I came to get you."

He smiled shyly and Dee immediately fell in love. Ambrose smiled in return and her breathe caught in her throat at how transformed he looked. Her heart cried for Glitch and Button, Cain and home. She struggled to control her emotions as the man ruffled his son's hair and stood. Turning to face her, he laid a proud hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Elliot, this is the Slipper I told you about, Queen DeeDee." The woman assumed he used her shortened name to avoid confusing the child. "Your Majesty," he said, convivially. "This is my son, Elliot."

Elliot seemed unsure whether to bow, kind of rocking in place with an expression of uncertainty. Dee's motherly instincts kicked in and she dropped to one knee, putting herself on eye level with the little one. She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Elliot."

He grasped her hand and shook it like he'd practiced such a thing before, glancing up at Ambrose for approval - which the man gave in the form of a proud smile and single nod. The young Queen stood again, looking at the Advisor with questioning eyes. He gave no answers, turning towards the door.

"Come, I'll tuck you in," he told his son, leading the boy from the room. Elliot's dual-colored eyes never left her, some look of hope in them she couldn't understand, until the door closed behind them, leaving her along with her thoughts. Not good company.

After a moment, she fled the room, heading for her own temporary chamber. By the time the door clicked shut behind her, Dee's tears were already flowing freely and fear gripped her soul.

If she never got home to her family, she would go mad. Just like Zero, in a little padded room, talking to people who weren't there. Eventually, her terror and grief calmed to a dull ache in her chest as she sat before the fireplace and waited for the sun to come up.

Long before then, there came a knock at her door. When she didn't answer, the knock sounded again, more insistent. Still, the woman didn't move. Her door opened a fraction and Ambrose peered inside.

"Isn't it a little late to come calling?" she asked in a dead tone.

The man opened her door, stepping one foot passed her threshold. "I need you to come to the lab so I can measure your Dimensional Frequency."

"Then, were you going to explain?" Dee asked, not even standing up. Ambrose scowled.

"I don't have to explain anything to you," he told her indignantly.

"No, you don't," she agreed. "But you're going to, anyway."

She had not a doubt he would. He was enough like her Glitch that he would feel obligated to tell her what the Hell was going on. True to form, the lanky man sighed and stepped fully into the chamber, closing the door behind him. He moved to join her, taking a seat in the other high-backed chair that stood near hears before the fire. After a moment, he spoke, hands clasped together, elbows resting on his knees.

"Where should I begin?" He seemed genuinely at a loss for how to start. DeeDee shrugged.

"At the beginning?" she offered lamely. He sighed again, gazing into the flames blazing in the heart.

"When Dorothy Gale was young, I always tried to be there for her. I cared for her a great deal, like an uncle, perhaps. On her nineteenth birthday, there was an incident." He went on without expounding and she did not try to stop him, knowing instinctively that she should let him say what he wished without interruption. "It made me want to pull her closer, for fear of losing the girl. The Queen did not approve of the amount of time Dorothy and I spent together, but it seemed to bring us both comfort, so I persisted, thinking she needed me as her friend."

He broke off for a moment, face pinching in what could have been pain or regret, but Dee wasn't sure which. Maybe both.

"Dorothy Gale came to my chamber one night, afraid to be alone after suffering a nightmare. They had plagued her since the incident and I longed to see her free of them. I tried to comfort her as best I could, but she sought something more. I so loved the Princess, I could not refuse her." There was no mistaking the pain that etched his delicate features this time. The young Slipper yearned to offer him what empathy she could, but knew he would reject it. Ambrose cleared his throat hoarsely.

"In the morning, the Queen found us together in my bed. Needless to say, she was displeased." DeeDee cringed just picturing the scene in her mind. "And Dorothy… laughed." His eyes had hardened, like bits of amber, his jaw tight. His voice had taken on a bitter tone, under laced with the pain of betrayal. "Apparently, the princess had planned it all from the start as a way to lash out at her mother. She even left a note by her own bed telling her maid where she could be found that morning. I was just a tool she used to strike at the Queen and when her plan worked so well, I was no longer useful. Her Majesty the Queen was most forgiving-" the word came out on a sneer that twisted his pale lips horribly. "- attributing my mistake to being upset over the incident.

"Two months later, we found out the greatest consequence of her scheme. Dorothy wanted to terminate, but the Queen forbade it. When Elliot was born, the Princess wanted nothing to do with him. She has only seen my son a handful of times in his whole life, so you can see why it's-" He broke off, dashing a hand across his eyes. He stood abruptly and paced away from the hearth. His shoulders were hunched at the pain of his memories. "It's difficult," he forced out.

DeeDee was not shocked to find she had followed him. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ambrose. I'm sorry she hurt you and Elliot." His shoulder shook beneath her hand and he nodded in response to her sympathy. "I'm sorry I'm not her." The injured man turned towards her, raven brows drawn together in confusion. "You love her." He did not deny it. "That's why you hate me."

He was already shaking his head. Ambrose took her hand from his shoulder, holding it in his own. "That's not true."

A corner of Dee's mouth quirked upwards. "I know you do, Ambrose. It's alright. I understand, now."

"You don't," the Advisor protested softly. "I don't hate you for not being her. I hated that you exist." Her expression twisted in confusion. "That you exist and I just had the bad luck to be born in this dimension and not yours." Tawny eyes - orange in the firelight - glittered with unshed tears and burned at her with fierce emotion. DeeDee's heart jerked and began to pound as he lifted his free hand to cup her cheek gently. "You are who she pretended to be to make me love her."

It was too much. In an instant, she was in his arms, those lovely pink lips pressed to her own. He kissed her hungrily, as desperate for her touch as she was his. His tongue slid into her mouth as her back hit the canopied bedpost and she stroked hers against it with a throaty moan. Her fingers were tangled in his soft, wavy locks; she tugged lightly and he responded with a low growl that weakened her knees.

Ambrose's hands moved over her form, learning her shape and taking possession. Dee arched into his rough caress, aching for more. He tugged her shirt free of her skirt, slipping his hand under the garment. The touch of his hand on her bare flesh burned like a brand and they both seemed to come to their senses. He jumped back, panting.

"I'm sorry," he hissed, clasping his hands behind his back as though to restrain them from reaching for her again.

She said the same, almost in unison. "I shouldn't have-"

"No, it was me."

"I'm so sorry," she insisted. Dee could feel her pulse everywhere, but especially in her kiss-swollen lips and the place on her waist where he had touched her skin.

"I should go," he told her, even as he turned towards the door. She nodded after him, heart still racing.

As the door closed behind him, she lifted a shaking hand to her face, feeling the flush in her cheek. Fresh tears welled in her deep blue eyes as she realized what she had done; what she had almost done. Almost betrayed both her loves, her son, herself and Ambrose himself.

He was not Glitch, but she had wanted him to be, was even willing - in that heated, desperate moment- to pretend he was. He looked like him, felt like him. He even fucking _tasted_ like him! But he wasn't. Every cell ached and burned to see her home, her baby, her headcase and her tin man. _Please… please, please._ She curled up on the strange bed and cried herself into an exhausted sleep, filled with heart wrenching dreams of those she loved.

**See? Totally worth it, right? R&R, pleeeeeeeease.**


	6. I've Got Good News and Bad News

**Alright, kiddies. Writer's block vanquished for the time being, here's the next chappy. hope you enjoy it and where im taking the story. dont forget to review and lemme know what you think.**

DeeDee awoke with a start. Something was wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was definitely off. She rolled to her back and sat up, just listening, trying to figure out what felt so wrong. There were no strange sounds, no discernable threat, but the young queen couldn't shake the feeing that something was very wrong. She stood up, making her way to the door of her room, opening it and peering into the hallway.

The hall was lit softly and empty of life. No guards, no people at all. She stepped out of her door and the feeling of dread increased. What was is? Was this some new manifestation of the dark light power within her? As Dee continued down the corridor, she mulled it over; eyes and ears open and sharp. By the time she reached the end of the hall, the woman had started to believe that maybe it was just a panic attack, just the fear that she might never be able to make it home.

That was when she heard it.

"Two little princesses dancing in a row."

"What the fuck?" she asked out loud, freezing in place. It was her own voice singing. Was Dorothy Gale in the palace after all? News of DeeDee's arrival must have spread across the kingdom like wildfire. If she, Dee, had heard about a slipper with her face showing up in the Zone, she would have definitely wanted to see for herself.

The queen made her way towards the singing. Down the main hall, towards the stairs, she walked quickly. At the top of the stairs, she paused. She could see the grand ballroom from here - the door was partially open, light spilling out onto the marble floor. Dee moved down the stairs quickly, her bare feet making no sound as she moved across the shining tiles. She stood in the open doorway, looking into the huge room. It was different than the ballroom in her palace. Black and white marble flooring in what looked to be one, giant solid piece. She wasn't even sure that was physically possible. The room was lit by three chandeliers. Two on either end of the vast chamber were large and ornate, but nothing compared to the enormous gold and crystal work of art hanging above the center of the floor. All around the room, massive, gilded mirrors adorned the walls, making the room appear even larger. It would be an impressive sight to see the reflections of a full room of people during a ball, all clad in bright colors, swirling around the floor in time with the music.

At the moment, the room only had one dancer. A girl with midnight hair that hung down her back in lustrous curls; a sharp contrast to her milky skin. She spun and spun, moving in sync with an invisible partner, singing to herself.

"Whither life will take them, no one ever knows…"

As she watched, Dee's sense of dread continued to grow. She could see the Princess dancing and her reflections simultaneously and there was something wrong there as well. Were the reflections not matching the real thing? That wasn't possible, was it? Drawn to the copy of herself, DeeDee stepped into the room and moved across the floor towards the dancing girl who was still oblivious to her presence.

_I know you._ Was that her own thought? Or the other woman's? Dee kept moving, not sure what she planned to do once she reached the Princess. _I know you._ Her reflection joined Dorothy Gale's in the mirrors, identical but for the clothing and length of hair. _I know you._

Dorothy twirled on her toes, mimicking the song. "Two little princesses dancing in a row. Dancing in a row…. Dancing in a row…"

DeeDee stopped before her twin, reflections nearly side by side in the mirrors. "I know you," she found herself saying. Why? Of course, she knew her. She _was_ her. Dorothy Gale giggled, spinning faster, still singing.

"Spinning fast and freely on their little toes…"

"I know you," Dee repeated, louder, more insistent. The Princess spun closer and closer, moving effortlessly across the floor, as silent as Dee herself had padded down the hall.

"No one ever knows… No one ever knows…"

"I know you!" Dee said again, firm and almost triumphant… and with the Mystic Man's voice. Dorothy Gale came to a stop so quickly and totally it was unnatural. She grinned at DeeDee with horrible crooked, jagged teeth, sickly green skin and huge, bulging eyes.

"Witch!" The mirrors exploded outward, showering the room with shards of glass.

DeeDee shrieked, rolling away so quickly she tumbled out of the and onto the floor with a thud. Her heart was slamming against her ribs painfully, body wracked with shivers. She pushed herself upright, eyes darting around the room, seeing a threat in every shadow.

"The fuck? What?" She gasped to herself, panting like she'd just run a mile. She was still in the bedroom, now half laying on the floor beside the bed. She had been asleep, but that was no nightmare. The witch was here. She could _feel_ her. She was here in Oz.

Dee popped to her feet, bolting out the door and racing down the hall. She ran as fast as she could Back to Ambrose's workshop, knowing he would be in there, working away to hide from what had happened between them earlier in her chamber. She burst into the room, door flying wide and slamming loudly against the bookcase.

"She's here!" Dee exclaimed breathlessly. Ambrose jumped up from his chair, intercepting the panicked queen as she crossed the room towards him.

"What's wrong, DeeDee?" he asked, clearly not understanding. Dee gripped the front of his shirt, looking up at him, blue eyes wide and fierce.

"She's here!" she repeated.

"Who is here?" the man asked, bewildered, but obviously concerned.

"The witch!" she told him, voice cracking. "The witch is here in Oz!"

Ambrose's eyebrows soared, even as his jaw tightened. "We have to tell the Queen. Come on." He took her hand, pulling her from the room.

Almost an hour later, DeeDee and Ambrose stood in an antechamber awaiting the arrival of the Queen. Princess Azkadellia was also in the room, along with her husband, a man named Conrad. Both were obviously fresh from bed, wearing robes and slippers, hair mussed. It was the first time DeeDee had seen the alternate version of her sister, but she barely noticed as she paced the length of the room agitatedly. Again there was the conspicuous absence of this world's Ahamo. No one had mentioned him and Dee had yet to ask. Did he even exist in Oz?

Finally the doors opened and Queen Illiancara stepped into the room, looking far too primped and polished for someone who had just been awakened. She'd kept them all waiting while she fixed her hair and put on her make-up. Didn't she understand that the whole of Oz was a stake here?

"Why have you dragged us from our beds at this unholy hour of night?" the Queen demanded snootily. DeeDee rounded on her, eyes flashing.

"I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen," she accused hotly. "The witch is here in Oz."

Having expected the color to drain from the Queen's face when she realized her grave error, Dee was shocked to see her flush red with anger.

"How dare you!" she demanded, lavender eyes cold with rage. "There is no such witch in _my_ kingdom." The younger woman didn't back down an inch.

"She's here and she's not trapped anymore. She's free," Dee told her, absolutely certain of this.

"And how do you know this?" The ruler of Oz inquired sharply.

"I fell asleep and-"

"You brought me here and made ridiculous statements because you had a _bad dream_?" she practically spat at the younger monarch. Azkadellia opened her mouth to speak, appearing she was about to intercede in the argument. Conrad laid a staying hand on her arm and she stopped. They looked like this was something they had done before. Which made sense, Dorothy Gale and Illiancara must have constantly been at each other's throats, leaving the elder sister to try in vain to keep the peace. DeeDee couldn't care less at this moment, seeing red at the Queen's stubborn refusal to listen to reason.

"Are you so blinded by your own overblown self image that you can't see what I'm telling you?" she demanded of the poor excuse for a queen. Power crackled in the air around the older woman menacingly.

"You are an untrustworthy wretch and I would sooner take the word of a confessed murderer," Illiancara hissed. Ambrose stiffened not far from where Dee stood. She could see his hands tighten into fists at his sides. DeeDee was taken aback, completely disgusted. She looked at the elder ruler in utter abhorrence, lips curled in a sneer of distaste.

"I am not you're daughter," she reminded the other queen in a hard tone. Lavender eyes narrowed with realization, but she did not back off her position, nor her hateful expression.

"You are -" whatever the spiteful woman planned to say was lost as the doors to the antechamber exploded inward with a concussive blast, showering the occupants with wood and plaster from the walls themselves. Dee fell back, covering her head with her arms reflexively. Ambrose dove towards her, leaning over her, trying to protect her with his body. Conrad did the same with Azkadellia, taking a huge hunk of the demolished wall beside the door in the back. He fell limply beside his wife, unconscious. Illiancara alone remained standing, untouched by the debris that pelted the room around her.

"You!" she exclaimed in astonishment.

"I've come home, mother."

Dee looked towards the gaping hole where the door had stood and saw a person who reminded her of herself in high school. Long, curly black locks streaked with crimson, skin paler than hers ever was, lips redder. The Princess Dorothy Gale looked like a younger, angrier version of DeeDee, save for the eyes. Where Dee had those brilliant, beautiful blue eyes the Mystic Man had remembered, Dorothy Gale's were a shifting, disturbing mix of blue and a horribly familiar oily, greenish black.

"I always knew this would happen one day," the Queen said, sounding very vindicated. Dorothy Gale smiled snidely.

"Yes, I'm sure you have. Reaping what you've sown," she told her mother with cruel amusement. The elder woman's mouth pinched in an angry frown and she lifted her hand.

"And now, I will end it," she said. Before she could do anything, ending or otherwise, the Princess lifted a finger- a single finger- and Illiancara's face froze in an expression of pure shock. Literally froze, as the woman had turned completely to stone.

"Mother!" Azkadellia cried in horror from where she knelt beside her fallen husband. It proved a fatal mistake, as the shout drew the attention of her rampaging younger sister. Dorothy Gale turned to the elder princess with the same mocking smile. "DG!"

"Don't worry, Az. I haven't forgotten my wonderful sister." And in an instant, Azkadellia was just a stone statue, kneeling over her prone spouse, hand outstretched pleadingly toward her sister. "And the shining prince for good measure."

Ambrose started across the room towards his princess, hands fisted again. Dee could tell by the way he moved that he was furious and intended to do something to stop the woman. Something that would most likely get him killed.

"Dorothy!" her barked, pulling the Princess's attention. Her smile widened with obvious pleasure.

"Oh, Ambrose, this is perfect. Now, I don't have to go looking for you," she cooed.

"Stop this!" he ordered, stalking towards her. She laughed. It was a horrible, grating sound that sent cold shivers down DeeDee's spine. She could feel the power gathering around the Princess and somehow knew that there was no stone form in store for Ambrose. She meant to destroy him.

The young Queen shot to her feet as the Princess raised her hand, as if to caress her former lover's cheek. "Good-bye, Ambrose."

"No!" Dee shouted. Using her own power, she shoved Ambrose aside, depositing him safely out of the line of fire. Then, she sent a bolt of energy towards Dorothy Gale, hitting her full force. The Princess flinched as the attack struck her, but nothing more. That much magical power should have blown her through the wall and it didn't even muss her hair! The Princess looked up at DeeDee in shock and fear.

And recognition.

"_You!" _It was Dorothy Gale's voice, but not. As though it was blended with another voice. A familiar and hated voice. Her face was twisted in hate and fear and wrong; all at once Dorothy Gale's face - her own face- but another visage just beneath the surface. The witch. And she was pissed. "_YOU!"_

Dee lifted her hands, gathering her power around her like a shield, pulling in all she could to launch another, stronger attack. With a shriek, Dorothy Gale turned in place and there was a flash of light and a small burst of hot air and she was gone.

"What the fuck was that? Where did she go?" The young Queen demanded, turning in place and looking around the room for the vanished princess. Ambrose was standing off to the side, watching her.

"She's gone," he said. _No shit._ Dee scowled, stalking towards the statue of Illiancara.

"Are you happy now?" she demanded of the polished, stone sculpture. "You stupid cunt!"

The enraged monarch lifted her hands to the stone, intending to shove the statue over, hoping it would shatter. Ambrose caught her around the waist and pulled her away before she could.

"Don't!" he ordered. His voice was high and pinched in a way that made DeeDee stop. When he released her, she turned to him with questioning eyes. "They aren't dead. She's imprisoned them in stone. They're still alive, DeeDee."

So, she almost killed Illiancara. The woman swallowed hard, blanching a little. She was angry and hated the woman more than she could express in words, but a killer she was not. Dee nodded to the advisor, letting him know she understood and wouldn't try that again. The shouts of several men could be heard, along with hurried footsteps approaching. Moments later, Zero entered the room through the gaping hole, followed by at least thirty men. He drew up short, looking at the petrified Queen, Princess and Prince in sober horror.

"Where is the Princess?" he asked Ambrose, not needing to clarify.

"She's fled for now," the pale, raven-haired man informed the guard, glancing towards Dee in explanation. Zero turned towards her, but she waved his thanks aside.

"How many?" she asked. Zero frowned, knowing what she was asking and obviously not wanting to tell her.

"At least fifteen. Maybe more," he told her flatly. Ambrose ran a hand through his hair, which had become disheveled in the sudden altercation.

"My Gods," he breathed to himself. Dee shook her head, stomach tightening as she took it in. Fifteen. Maybe more. She'd killed fifteen people simply because they were in her path.

She turned to Ambrose. "That was her. The witch."

He shook his head. "That was the Princess Dorothy Gale."

"I know it was. The witch was inside her. Dorothy Gale set her free. On purpose." It was a concept so abhorrent, Dee could barely wrap her head around it. Ambrose paled- and for someone as pale as he was naturally, that was saying a lot.

"The witch that tried to destroy your kingdom?" Zero asked. Dee nodded, realizing something in that moment.

"It _was_ the with that tried to destroy the O.Z.."

"You said that," Zero pointed out. She shook her head.

"No, I mean it was the _same_ witch," she clarified. Ambrose's brows furrowed.

"I thought you destroyed her."

"So did I!" Dee said in exasperation. "But she knew me. You saw her. She _knew_ me. How is that possible?"

Ambrose shook his head with a shrug. _Great. So the super genius doesn't know._

"I think the more pressing issue is how do we stop her," Zero inserted. "How did you kill her in your world?"

Dee threw up her hands. "Apparently, I didn't. I thought I'd killed her when I rained the waters of Finaqua on her and she melted, but I guess not. Fuck."

The young Queen paced away, really wanting to break something. Hell, with the current state of the room, she could get away with it, too. Ambrose and Zero discussed what needed to be done in the wake of Dorothy Gale/the witch's attack.

"This fucking sucks," she growled to herself, pacing back and forth. She gets pulled into this world just in time to see the witch tear it apart and there's nothing she can do to stop her. And how the fuck did she, the witch, even end up here? How was that possible? DeeDee killed her. She did! Melted her unto a pool of oily yuck, God dammit. What was she supposed to do? Melt her again? Hell, it might not even work. She knew she was missing something, but couldn't quite- "The Emerald!"

Ambrose and Zero turned towards her, expressions nearly identical looks of questioning. She hurried back towards them, excited by what she was thinking.

"We need the Emerald of the Eclipse!" she said, triumphantly.

"The what?" Zero asked.

"The Emerald of the Eclipse," Dee repeated. "I was supposed to use it to defeat the witch, but I never did. I just realized that."

"What is the Emerald of the Eclipse?" Ambrose asked. DeeDee paused. She would have expected Ambrose to know what the Emerald was.

"It's a small, green crystal. It's the Emerald in the prophecy!" she said, annoyed that she had to explain it. Ambrose shook his head.

"The prophecy?"

"The majestic queen of the O.Z. had two lovely daughters she…" she began, waving her hand to indicate that it went on.

Ambrose shook his head again. "There is no crystal in that prophecy."

"What? It specifically says 'the Emerald'!" DeeDee insisted, voice going a little shrill.

"The Emerald City," Zero said, earning a glare from the confused and frustrated monarch.

"The what?" They both gawked at her. "I was raised on the Other Side!"

Ambrose nodded, taking a breath in preparation of an impromptu history lesson. "In the time of the ancients, when the Outer Zone was still young as a nation, the capitol of the Zone was a shining city with massive, towering buildings made of beautiful green stone. That is what the prophecy you are talking about was referring to.

"It's not really a prophecy, either," he shrugged, shaking his head. "It's written as a prophecy, but often when people wrote of things that were occurring in a time of turmoil when writing about such things could be dangerous, they disguised them as prophecies. So, they could not be accused of showing an unfavorable light on the current rulers. There were two powerful women who might have ruled the Zone back then. Supposedly, one was a good, just ruler and the other cruel and tyrannical. But only one could triumph and hold the Emerald- the capitol of the Outer Zone."

DeeDee blinked, letting this new information sink in. The prophecy that had shaped her life and haunted her on a daily basis… wasn't a prophecy at all. Son of a bitch!

"Okay, great, fine. That's all well and good, but my mother told me I needed to use the Emerald of the Eclipse to defeat the witch," she said, her voice louder than she intended because she was agitated. Ambrose laid a hand on her arm in much the way Conrad had Azkadellia's earlier. Dee almost shrugged it off. Almost. She did not want to deal with the look of injury such an action would no doubt bring to the advisor's face.

"It might help, Your Majesty, if you could tell us just what this Emerald is," Zero offered, infuriatingly reasonable. Even more infuriating because it was coming from a Zero who wasn't the real Zero so she couldn't get angry with him for it.

"It's a small, green crystal," she repeated. "It's a source of great power. It is what powered the Sunseeder." She directed the last of that to Ambrose alone, as she had explained the device to him before. The tall man nodded, finger tapping idly against his chin as he thought.

"It sounds like it could be the Stone of the Ancients," he said, sounding very unhappy with this prospect. Zero seemed to know what Ambrose was talking about and looked just as unhappy about it.

"What's the Stone of the Ancients?" Dee asked, wanting to be in on the unhappiness, too.

The gangly man began, almost apologetically, "It's an ancient artifact-" _No shit, Sherlock._ "-that actually focuses all the magically energy in all of Oz."

"Wow."

"Unfortunately, it's highly dangerous and difficult to control. If the user can't focus the energy properly, it can consume and destroy them," he added. She nodded.

"That sounds about right." Certainly fit with her mother's plan for her to kill herself in the process of killing the witch. "Where do we find it?" Maybe they could stop the witch once and for all this time. But the way Zero shifted uneasily and Ambrose frowned made her think otherwise. "What?"

"It was destroyed," the advisor said. Ah, so that was the explanation of all the unhappy.

"Well, fuck," Dee remarked in disgust.


	7. The Bad News is, There is No Good News

**Fair warning, people - this chapter is kind of intense. Don't lynch me, just review. oh, and enjoy!**

* * *

"What do you mean it was destroyed? How do you destroy something that powerful?" DeeDee was having a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that her one hope for taking out the witch was gone. Ambrose chewed on his lip and in an endearingly Glitch way, obviously trying to decide whether or not he wanted to tell her. Zero, on the other hand, had no such qualms.

"They call it 'The Incident'," he started, ignoring the advisor's indecision. "When the Princess turned nineteen, an assassination attempt was made on her life." Dee glanced at Ambrose. His face was pinched with pain at the memory. _Explains a lot._ "The Mystic Man had stolen the Stone of the Ancients from the royal vault and-"

"The _Mystic Man_ tried to kill Dorothy Gale?" To say DeeDee was surprised would have been one Hell of an understatement. Zero nodded.

"I was still on his protection detail in those days. I never would have thought he'd do something so crazy. He believed…" the man broke off, casting his eyes about the room, lips quirking in a sardonic half-smirk. "Well, something like _this_ would happen one day. So, he tried to use the Stone to kill Dorothy Gale. But it was too much for him, he couldn't control it. Almost killed _himself_ instead. High Advisor Ambrose here could explain the hows better than I can, but what ended up happening is the crystal shattered."

"Maybe the Mystic Man knows how to destroy the witch. I never got to ask him in my O.Z., because she killed him before I could. He _must_ be able to tell me something," Dee felt hopeful once again. After all, hadn't Cain told her the Mystic Man had all the answers? And this one wasn't all hopped up on goofy juice. "Where is he, now?"

Her heart fell again as Zero adopted the same apologetic expression as he had when she mentioned the Stone itself. "The Queen had him put to death."

"Fuck me!" Dee exclaimed, kicking aside an overturned chair. Ambrose scrubbed a hand over his face tiredly.

"No, she didn't." Dee and Zero turned to the man in surprise. "Illiancara banished the Mystic Man to the Nome King's mountain."

Zero cringed, but again Dee was left clueless. Oz was a mirror of her own O.Z., how much shit did she not know about her own kingdom?! She was going to have to have a serious talk with Cain and Glitch and her so-called advisors.

"Where is the Nome King's mountain?"

"No where," Zero told her, still looking shell shocked over the revelation that his former- What? Assignment? Mentor?- was still alive. "No one knows where it is."

"Then, how did the Queen banish Mystic Man there?" Dee made a sound of frustration, hands clenching into fists at her sides as she tried to keep from pitching a fit like a five year old. "Someone explain this shit to me, please, before I lose my fucking mind," she said with forced calm. Wyatt Ambrose wasn't here, so her resolution to watch her language was void, God dammit.

"Back in the days when Dorothy Gale I was in the Outer Zone, but not Queen yet, there was a terrible wizard who called himself the Nome King. Let's skip over his exploits and just take for granted that the guy was bad news. He lived in a huge mountain. He was actually part _of_ the mountain, some kind of rock being. No one know if he started out as one or if he used magic to make himself that way.

"The Nome King was an ally of the evil Queen Mombi, who stole the throne from the real ruler of the Outer Zone, Ozma- a descendant of _Oz_ himself." _Oz_ (pronounced "oh!-s"), Ozma, and Dorothy Gale, at least these were names she knew. Maybe her tutors and advisors had just not gotten around to the more unsavory bits of the kingdom's history. Fucktards. She was _so_ firing them and getting new, less squeamish historians. "Dorothy had to travel to his mountain to save Ozma. She defeated him, and Mombi. It was the second time she saved the Zone. Ozma adopted Dorothy as her heir and that's how she eventually became the greatest Queen of Oz."

"Fascinating," Dee said dryly. Under normal circumstances, she'd have found the story enthralling and been eager to learn more, but all she wanted to know now was- "What's special about the mountain?"

"It's filled with stone golems, trolls… lot's of really nasty things," Zero said, sardonic smirk making a come back. He reminded her of someone, she just couldn't put her finger on who. "When all the roads in Oz were plotted a millennia ago, Dorothy Gale II left the Nome King's mountain off the maps and hid it with magic to keep people from going there. It's a dangerous place."

"Father!" The high, frightened voice was accompanied by the slapping of little slippers on the marble floor as Elliot raced down the hall and towards the tall man. Ambrose went to his son, kneeling down to scoop him up as the boy threw himself into his father's arms. "Are you okay, father?" One blue and one fawn eye were shining with fearful tears. Ambrose bounced the boy gently in his embrace, rubbing his back in soothing circles.

"I'm fine, doll. Everything is going to be alright," he promised, tone soft and reassuring. Elliot lay his head against his father's shoulder, little hands holding tight to his shirt as he started to calm down.

DeeDee wanted to comfort the child, too. She brushed aside the intense feelings of protectiveness towards the boy as misplaced maternal instinct. She had no responsibility, nor right to young Elliot, regardless of any strange day dreams she might have had. The young Queen turned back to Zero and found him watching the father and son with an expression of soft longing. Did this Zero have a son of his own?

"How do we find the Nome King's mountain?"

Ambrose turned to her, shaking his head. "We can't. The Queen was the only person in Oz who knew the location. It's unplotted. It's not on any map. You'd have to search the whole Realm if you wanted to find the place."

"Only _one_ person in the whole kingdom knew where to find a _mountain_? You gotta be kidding me?" She almost said "fucking kidding me," but Elliot's wide, innocent eyes stopped her.

Zero shrugged. "It's been a secret for over a thousand years. Even in Oz, that's a long time."

"So," Dee began, pinching the bridge of her nose. "No stone, no mountain - so no Mystic Man, and basically no way to defeat the most evil bitch in the O.Z., am I wrong?"

"Well, aside from the fact that this is Oz and no longer the O.Z., no, you're not wrong," Zero nodded, looking rather sorry for the whole thing. _No _longer_ the O.Z.? What the Hell did that mean?_

DeeDee picked up the chair she had kicked into the wall and righted it, then sat down, head in her hands. "I don't… I don't know what to do."

When the witch popped up just after her arrival, Dee had thought maybe that's why she had been pulled into the world. It was the world's way of defending itself against the evil crone. Oz should have chosen a better champion, because this Queen had no idea how to vanquish the wicked foe presented to her for the second time. And there was another question- how did the witch seem to know who DeeDee was? Maybe part of her had escaped through a rift created by the huge amounts of energy expelled by the Sunseeder. She'd been hanging around Glitch for too long. Dee sighed unhappily, even though the theory made loads of sense. She missed her husbands and son and friends and family. She missed her home.

"The Keeper can find anything," came a small voice. Dee looked up at Elliot who was staring over his father's shoulder with wide eyes at his aunt, uncle, and grandmother. Ambrose gently pulled his son back, turning his face so their gazes could meet.

"Who is the Keeper, Elliot?" the man said in a gentle tone. The child blinked a few times as if to clear his head and when he spoke again, his voice was stronger and more lucid.

"The Keeper of Pathways. He's the man who plots the roads and keeps the maps. He knows where everything that ever was is," he told his father, sounding proud to be able to tell Ambrose something he didn't already know.

"Where did you learn this?" the advisor asked, sounding slightly dubious; as though he wasn't sure the boy was talking about a real person, but did not want to hurt his feelings. Elliot's spine straightened a little as he picked up the lightly disbelieving tone.

"In the Royal Library," he informed Ambrose firmly. Ambrose pitch eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"I didn't know you had been going to the Royal Library," he told his son. Elliot flushed, eyes falling, shoulders hunching. He looked adorable, so like his father. No, strike that, like Glitch.

"If I'm going to be the baby's advisor someday, I need to know all about Oz, don't I?" he asked shyly. Ambrose's face softened into a proud, fatherly expression.

"You're right, Elliot. And the fact that you realized that now, so young, means you will be a great asset to the kingdom," Ambrose told the boy, pulling him close again in a hug, his expression turning a touch sad.

"Baby?" Dee asked Zero. He nodded, looking over at the statue that was Azkadellia, lips turned down in a look of pity.

"The Princess Azkadellia was going to officially announce the pregnancy next month," he related softly. "We had extra guards on her since the moment I was informed. Didn't do much good, though, did it?"

She now understood why Ambrose looked sad. Elliot, though technically a prince, would never rule Oz in any fashion. She understood how Illiancara's mind worked. The boy obviously did, too, which is why he had resigned himself to becoming his unborn cousin's advisor once he or she was ruler of the Realm. It was a very mature decision. Very lucky for them all, too, if this Keeper could tell them how to find the Nome King's mountain and the Mystic Man. Elliot would have been the only one alive and unpetrified who even _could _have known, since the Royal Library was locked by magic and could only be entered by those who shared the Gale bloodline by birth or marriage. It was a place of the secrets of the monarchy. The journal DeeDee had read the day after her grand ball, the one Glitch had kept during her mother's second pregnancy, had been displaced from the Royal Library into the regular palace library. She had never found out who put it there, but there were only so many suspects.

"Where is the Keeper of Pathways?" Dee asked the child. He turned those mismatched eyes on her and they filled her world for a moment.

"He's in a secret Realm. You have to go through the teleportal in the Queen's chamber to get there," the boy said, sounding tentatively eager.

"Then that's where we're going," Dee started for the gaping doorway.

"May I go, too, Father?"

Ambrose looked torn. He obviously wanted Elliot to be safe and going on an adventure to the Nome King's mountain and ultimately to fight the witch was definitely not safe.

"To meet the Keeper," he relented a bit, then looked at Zero, who nodded. "But after that you are going to stay with the Captain, understood?" Elliot nodded, eyes shining with excitement.

So, Zero was not only a palace guard, but _Captain_ of the Guards. Interesting. The four of them made their way down the hall towards the Queen's chamber.

Here and there they passed those fallen and injured in the attack, huge chunks blown out of walls and furniture reduced to splinters and scraps of fabric. Ambrose hid his boy's face against his chest. Elliot did not need to see these things. The dead were being carried away by palace guards who nodded in deference to Zero, the injured were being helped by healers - both human and viewer. This is how they came across Lylo, who was picking his way through the rubble with a lost expression. He saw Ambrose and hurried towards them.

"The Queen?" he asked, voice tight with concern. Ambrose shook his head.

"The Princess imprisoned both Illiancara and her daughter in stone, along with Prince Conrad," he told the Viewer, who followed along beside him as the four continued on towards their destination.

"You run?" he asked in outrage. "Run away instead of stay to help?"

"We are going to find the Keeper of Pathways," Ambrose told him, but revealed no more, lest Lylo or any of the people who might overhear him be forced to talk by the possessed Princess.

"Lylo go," the Viewer insisted. When Ambrose started to protest, the furry man snarled defiantly. "Lylo is loyal to his Queen!" he insisted. "Lylo go to help her!"

"Okay, you can come," Dee interjected. Raw had been a huge asset to her when she was fighting the witch originally. Denying a Viewer this time would be senseless. Lylo fell in step behind her.

They had nearly reached Illiancara's chamber when another explosion rocked the castle. From the direction of the earsplitting boom, it seemed Dorothy Gale had attacked the room they had just vacated. DeeDee could only hope the petrified people had not been shattered.

"She's back!" the young Queen cried loudly to be heard over the rumble that followed the blast. They ran the rest of the distance to the Queen's rooms. Inside, Elliot stuttered his way through the explanation of how to make the huge mirror, carved with sigils that was a teleportal open into the realm of the Keeper of Pathways. DeeDee pressed each of the sigils in order, then a secret symbol she, herself, did not even know about - a small, stylized key hidden amongst the ornate decoration on the frame.

The High Advisor directed Zero through first, as they had to go one at a time. Then, knelt as Lylo followed, setting his son's feet on the floor. He took the boy's face in his hands and looked into his mismatched eyes, Ambrose's own tawny pair shining with tears. He pulled the boy close again, pressing a kiss to his temple.

"I love you, doll," he whispered fiercely, then pushed the boy through the shifting light of the portal. He stood, grabbing Dee's arm to stop her as she moved to follow. It was then that DeeDee realized what he meant to do. "I have to stay to close the portal or she'll follow right after us."

"No!" she protested, grabbing onto his shirt and trying to force him through the gateway. But, like Glitch, Ambrose's lanky frame was much stronger than it appeared. He pulled her hands free, pinning them to her sides. "I can fight her!"

"I saw you use your magic and it had no effect!" he declared, shocking her into silence for the moment. He was right and she knew it. Her magic, her great power had been useless. But that could have been a fluke. It had to be.

"Take care of our son," he told her, tears slipping down his pale cheeks.

"_I'm not her_," Dee reminded him harshly. He shook his head and actually smiled a little. The fucker smiled while he was killing himself!

"I know exactly who you are," Ambrose said softly, bending forward to kiss her forehead gently, even as she struggled. "He should have always been yours. I love you, DeeDee."

And with that, he shoved her through the portal. The world vanished and Dee tumbled through nothingness for a heart-stopping moment, then fell to a cold, hard floor in a heap. She was instantly on her feet, trying to go back the way she came, but all her fists and angry cries fell on was a blank wall.

"No, no, no!" Each denial was punctuated by the slam of her fist against the unyielding stone. Zero caught her wrists and pulled her away, keeping her from harming herself as she attacked the rock wall.

"Where is Advisor Ambrose?" he asked loudly, trying to gain her attention. She shoved from his grasp, sapphire blue eyes sparkling with furious tears.

"He stayed behind to destroy the teleportal so she couldn't follow!" she ground out, wanting to pull out her hair. Stupid, stupid man! Zero looked shocked, then angry himself, slamming his own fist against the wall once.

"Dammit!" He shook his head. "I could have stayed to do that. Son of a bitch!"

"I don't understand," Elliot stood by, looking confused and hurt. Dee's heart, which was already hurting from Ambrose's self-sacrifice, shattered. She went to the boy, falling to her knees before him.

"Elliot," she began in a broken voice, tears streaming down her face. "Elliot, your father…"

Understanding came to his eyes and each shard of her ruined heart broke again. One blue and one tawny eye, far too young for this, filled with tears that spilled down over rosy cheeks. "He's not coming," the boy said in a horribly lucid way, leaving no doubt that he knew exactly what was going on. He flung his arms around Dee's neck, hiding his face against her collar. She hugged him tight, falling back onto her butt and pulling him into her lap. She rocked him side to side as little shoulders shook with cruel sobs.

"I'm so sorry, Elliot," she whispered against his midnight curls. "I'm so sorry, baby."

Zero and Lylo watched in silence as she tried to comfort the poor child, rocking him gently and rubbing his back soothingly. It seemed like forever before his small shoulders stilled, his pitiful wails and broken sobs ceased. His breath still hitched and hiccupped now and again, but his breathing was more or less even and calm.

A strange man cleared his throat, drawing all three adult's attention. Elliot didn't move to look up. Not far from Zero, stood an older man with a shock of white hair that stood out from his head crazily. He wore a olive green vest over a white button down shirt, sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms and charcoal slacks. A gold watch chain hung from his waist, disappearing into his pants pocket. Black shoes, shining in the dim, golden light of the room.

It was the first time DeeDee actually noticed the room at all. She and her companions were off in a corner, behind what looked like a large boiler. The amber light was coming from a fireplace across the room and several oil lamps here and there about the place. The man shrugged, smiling cordially, though he looked a bit confused.

"Well, it's been a while since I had any company," he said, nicely enough. The woman was surprised to find he had a soft, lilting, decidedly _British_ accent. "From the look of it, I'd say a spot of tea is in order. Come," he gestured for them to follow as he walked back into the room proper. "Plenty for everyone."

Lylo followed after the man. Zero looked to Dee and shrugged as if to say, "Might as well." He bent and helped her to her feet so that she would not have to release Elliot. He stayed close as she went after Lylo and the polite stranger and Dee felt safer. Then, she felt weird being comforted by the close presence of _Zero_. She pushed the thoughts from her mind as he moved towards a small fireplace set into the stone wall opposite the one they had come through.

Mismatched, homey furniture was set up before the hearth; an over stuffed, green couch and two high backed wing chairs - one goldenrod, one lavender. In the middle of these was a short, square table, already set out for an afternoon tea. Lylo was already seated in the lavender chair. DeeDee sat on the couch, which sank under her weight in a way that felt like being cradled as opposed to swallowed up. Elliot snuggled against her, his feet resting on the cushion aside her thigh, his hands clasped together and hugged to his chest. Zero stood beside the arm of the couch, ready to take the defensive if the stranger proved less polite than he was letting on.

"Who are you?" the Captain of the Guard asked. The white-haired stranger with the friendly face looked up from where he was taking a large kettle off the fire and smiled, amused.

"Since you all fell into my home, I should be the one asking questions," he said reasonably, but with a hint of teasing in his voice. "However, I am a well-mannered host, if nothing else. My name is James Hughes and I am the Keeper of Pathways." He held the kettle's handle in one hand and lifted the lid of the teapot, filling it with steaming water. He replaced the kettle on the hook over the hearth, then bustled away towards a wall that was made up of nothing but shelves, cabinets, and drawers. He carefully pulled out three teacups and saucers, and three spoons, bringing them with him back to the table.

"Were you expecting someone?" Dee asked, noticing the table was already set for two. The Keeper looked at her, that friendly smile still on his face.

"Not really," he told her with a shrug. "But it's always good to be prepared, just in case. Of course, I didn't think of _four_ people dropping by, so it all seems rather silly, doesn't it?" The man was amazingly likeable and she found herself enjoying his gently polite and happy personality. He busied himself pouring tea into each cup. As he handed them out, he prattled on about the set itself. "You'll notice no sugar bowl or creamer. The cups themselves are enchanted, you see. Always makes the perfect cup of tea for the person drinking it. I don't even actually have to boil the water or use the teapot! It just doesn't seem right to do it any other way."

He smiled gently as he took Elliot's hands and placed the teacup and saucer into them. The boy took a sip of tea, sighing sadly. Hughes placed the cup intended for Dee on the table before her, as her hands were rather obviously full at the moment. When Zero shook his head, politely refusing tea, the older man shrugged and placed it on the table beside DeeDee's. He took his own cup and sat in the remaining chair, taking a sip of tea. He smiled in that amused way again.

"Perfect every time," he said. "Now, then, perhaps one of you fine people could be so kind as to tell me why you are visiting today?"

"We need to find the way to the Nome King's mountain," Dee told him, skipping over all the details. Hughes brows - a dark brown that belied the hair color from his youth - lifted in surprise and he took another sip of tea, letting this information sink in.

"A dangerous place. Though I'm sure you're aware of that," he said, nodding to himself. "And I'm sure you're aware that it is no place for a young child such as you have with you."

She nodded. "We don't have any choice in the matter."

"Ah, so this is a rather urgent matter. I see," he nodded again, taking another sip of tea.

"Yes, so, if we could hurry it up a bit, that would be great," Zero piped up with force politeness that did nothing to cover his impatience.

"No rush, young man," the Keeper insisted softly. "Time, as defined by the outside world, has no meaning here. What ever pressing situation you have found yourselves in will not move forward without you, I can assure you. So, please, sit down and have some tea."

Zero scowled. He looked to DeeDee for her input, but she just shrugged. He then bent and picked up his teacup with a put upon sigh, taking a sip to appease his host.

"The Nome King's mountain," Hughes restating, lips pursed as he thought about it, then took another sip of tea. "If I recall correctly, that location is unplotted. You will not find it on any road on any map that still exists in the Outer Zone today."

"That's why we came to you," Zero reminded him. The Keeper nodded.

"Of course."

"You said the Outer Zone," DeeDee pointed out, confused. She looked to Zero. "I thought your Realm was called Oz."

"My, my, it _has_ been a long time since I had any visitors, hasn't it?" Hughes commented to himself, finishing the tea in his cup. He leaned forward to refill it, glancing around to see if anyone else needed more tea.

"Oz was once called the Outer Zone, just like your O.Z.," Zero explained.

"It was? I'm lost," the woman admitted. Zero looked less than thrilled to be having to give her another history lesson.

"Back before the time of the Ancients, before Oz was even a country, the land was split into-"

"I know all that," DeeDee interrupted. And she did. The first thing her tutors and historians had explained to her was the origin of the O.Z.

In the time before the Ancients, the land was broken into many smaller countries. One of these countries was ruled by a tyrannical dictator. Hungry for power and a greater kingdom, this man sent out his armies and conquered the surrounding lands one by one until he controlled all of the land inside the great desert wasteland that surrounded it. He placed his capitol city in the warm southlands that would one day be called Finaqua and split the Realm into provinces to govern them more easily; each province ruled by one of his corrupt, cruel generals.

The province farthest from the capitol, bordered by the Deadly and Impassable Deserts, was the Outer Zone. The people suffered under the harsh rule of the general and harsher rule of the tyrant King himself. Led by a man they called _Oz _(a word meaning Wizard), the people revolted against their oppressive steward. One by one, the other provinces of the Kingdom followed in suit, looking to the Outer Zone and _Oz_ to lead them against the King. The tyrant was over throne, and though he did not desire power, _Oz_ was placed on the throne by the very people he had led to freedom.

He moved the capitol of the realm, now all called the Outer Zone, to the center of the country, now called Central City.

"Why is it called Oz, now is what I want to know," Dee told him.

The man looked relieved, as thought it was more understandable that she not know about this subject than the entire history of the Realm. And perhaps, it was. "In her youth, Queen Illiancara decided that the Outer Zone was a poor name for a great kingdom like Oz. It made it sound like it was still a province. When she became Queen, she implemented a plan that would change the name of the Realm - over a span of about thirty years, so that people and businesses would be able to adjust. First to the O.Z. and then, ten years ago, to Oz, in honor of _Oz_."

"Fascinating," Hughes declared with a sincere smile. He took a sip of tea, steering the conversation back on track, as any polite host should. "As it is not on any map, the road you must travel will be long. None of this 'a day of walking and you're there' nonsense. It will lead you through Winkie Country, so it's not a particularly dangerous trek until you reach the Deadly Desert and the enter the Land of Ev, where the Nome King's mountain resides. If you stick to the road, you should be relatively safe from any roaming nasties."

"The Eastern Guild has spread from Munchkin Country along the Quad River. We'll have to be careful to stay on their good side," Zero told Dee.

"Quite," Hughes agreed cheerfully. He eyed Elliot for a moment, then set his teacup down. "Before you go, however, I think a spot of rest would be advisable. You, miss," he said, rising form his chair, "and the boy may have the use of my bed." He gestured towards a nicely patterned folding screen off in a corner of the room. Dee nodded, sliding an arm under Elliot's legs and hefting him up as she stood.

She carried him over to the screen and found an adorable brass framed bed with a patchwork quilt and fluffy looking pillows. Tugging back the quilt, she laid the boy down and pulled off his slippers, setting them by the side of the bed. He rolled to his side and stared at the screen while Dee pulled the quilt up over him. She intended to go back to the heart and talk more to the Keeper about their journey, but the child sat up with wide eyes when she started to leave.

"Don't go!" he begged. Dee immediately went back and sat on the side of the bed, stroking his tear stained cheeks gently.

"I won't. I'm not leaving you, Elliot. I was just going to sit by the fire." As she said it, the young Queen was already kicking off her shoes. "But I'll stay here with you, okay?"

He nodded, scooting over to give her room on the bed and she slid under the quilt with him, wrapping the poor boy in a warm embrace. He sniffled softly, pressing close to her, seeking comfort.

As DeeDee rubbed his back and stroked his soft, ebony locks, trying to sooth him to sleep, she thought on the things which had transpired. Not even a day had passed since she came to Oz and the crone was out, wreaking havoc already. Had she been pulled here with the witch or because of her? Was she fated to keep fighting this battle until she got it right? And what _was _the correct outcome? Was she meant ultimately to protect the Outer Zone or destroy it?

She'd saved her own kingdom with the help of many allies, but would she be able to do it again - with no friends, no Emerald, and maybe even no magic?

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**Another note, i know all of you are clammoring to find out where Bizzaro Cain is. Soon. I promise, I'll address it soon.**


	8. All Roads Lead To

**Hi, people! God, has it been a long time... Life has a way of clobbering you and not letting you up no matter how many times you cry UNCLE! I apologize for how LOOOONG its taken me to update. I promised I wouldnt just abandon this, though, so it's not for lack of trying to get a new chappy up. Take me back, guys!**

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DeeDee awoke to the sound of masculine voices engaged in a hushed conversation. She had not even been aware of falling asleep. Young Elliot was snuggled against her chest, his arms wrapped around her waist. Even in the dim light, she could see the dried streaks of tears on his pale cheeks and it made her heart ache. She gently took hold of his elbows and pulled his arms from around her, sliding carefully away from the slumbering boy. The Queen kissed his forehead softly, whispering that she would not go far as she slipped out of the bed.

As she walked around the screen, DeeDee saw that Zero had dragged the lavender chair over and was sitting just in front of it. His teacup was perched on the arm, his arms crossed as he sat guard. Once again the displaced monarch was struck by the oddity of feeling comforted by a man who's mirror image had wreaked such havoc in her life and those of the ones she loved most. Lylo and the Keeper were engaged in some conversation pertaining - apparently - to a large old tome that now sat on the empty table where the tea service had been laid out. Zero noticed her and moved to stand but she waved him back down.

"What did I miss?" DeeDee asked. He shrugged and shook his head.

"Nothing. He wouldn't bring out any maps without you. I think they're talking about old pottery or something." The look of annoyance on his face almost made her lips twitch, but not quite. There was something fleetingly familiar about him at times, fluttering across her consciousness like a moth zipping in front of a light in the darkness of night.

DeeDee glanced behind the screen, reassuring herself that Elliot was still sleeping before she moved to join the Keeper and the Viewer. "Show me the map."

Hughes looked up with a polite, if somewhat disappointed smile. The old man closed the large book and hefted it over to one of the bookcases, sliding it back into a rather conspicuous blank space between two equally large and old volumes. He then walked precisely three steps to the left, tapped a thin, green book on the spine twice, knelt and pulled a long roll of paper out of no where.

"That's impressive," Zero commented dryly from behind her, rising out of his chair. Dee saw him peek behind the ornate screen out of the corner of her eye, a look of concern on his features, and that fleeting feeling of familiarity flittered passed her again. She mentally waved it away like the moth it was and turned her attention back to her host, who was spreading the rolled up paper on his table.

The corners, which looked ready to roll right back up again and should have required some kind of weight to keep them still, obediently stayed in place where the Keeper of Pathways had put them. The paper itself was blank, but as that comment rose to her lips, Dee watched as Hughes ran his fingers over the sheet, tracing invisible lines that became visible before her eyes; as if drawn into being by his will alone. In seconds the empty page was a fully drawn and colored map.

"Now, then," Hughes said, not looking up. "The Nome King's mountain." The paper rippled- no, not rippled. If DeeDee didn't know better, she'd have said it _shivered._ The blue blob that represented Quad Lake seemed to contract, like a twitch, before a red-gold light welled up within it. The light moved out from the lake, down the Quad River, shuddering at first as though the path was unsure from lack of use, loss of memory, but then its progress became more fluid. Hughes kept up a soft monologue as it went, not raising his voice perhaps to keep from startling the map. _The thoughts you have in Oz._ "The path follows the Quad River north and west, through Winkie Country. You must be mindful, if the Eastern Guild has advanced the Munchkin borders as your friend has said. It may not be safe as it once was.

"To the uppermost corner of Oz, where the distance between the Deadly Desert and the Land of Ev is shortest. The shifting sands and desert creatures will not be the least of your worries, but the suns will be the greatest - for they burn here like no where else in the Zone. There is no more River, no more water, no plants, no clouds… some say, there is no air to breathe.

"Here-" A spot on the map just passed the Ev border glowed more gold than red for a moment, a doorway. "This is where you must leave behind the light and travel in darkness. The Underground River carves it's way through rock and earth, down and down into the Nome King's Domain. The denizens of this world are as deadly as they are numerous. They are legion, loosed like a pack of wild dogs without their master. This is where your inner light is vital, Majesty, for it will be the only thing protecting your troupe from the horrors of the Nome's King's shadow realm. Stay to the river, but keep to the shore."

Well, that didn't sound good at all. "Here-" Again, a flash of gold from the map, a stairway. "You will find whatever remains of the entrance to the mountain itself. No one has traveled this way since the days when Dorothy Gale herself defeated the Nome King and brought his kingdom to ruin. The way is still passable, or I could not show it to you, but I do not know what condition the path is in."

Hughes looked up then, shoulders slumping a little as if the last few moments had tired him, aged him slightly. "And this is where my knowledge ends. I do not know what you will find inside the mountain, I'm sorry."

DeeDee nodded, looking back over the map and the path that still glowed. No Cain, no Glitch here now to tell her what to do next, where to go. She rested one hand on the table, the other coming up to rub her forehead as she tried to come up with a plan. "Ah… How do we get to Quad Lake from here?"

Hughes sat down in the goldenrod wingback chair, elbows resting on the armrests, fingers steepled just below his chin. "Well, that would be your area, Your Majesty. I deal in Wheres, Hows are not my forte," he told her, apologetically. Then added, with thoughtful shrewdness - as though this was not something he was supposed to be imparting. "However, visitors always do seem to come from that area over by the wall there. Now, I, myself have no idea how they slip in and out of my little abode, but perhaps you might have an inkling."

In fact, she had no inkling at all. Glitch would know. God dammit, but Glitch wasn't there! _Stop it._ She ordered herself. _Quit looking for the firewood and see the fucking forest in front of you._ Not the best metaphor she'd ever heard, but it worked. The young monarch moved across the small room and over to the wall. After staring at it blankly for a full minute, she tried running her hands over it. _Yup, it's a wall._ Damn. Obviously, there had to be some kind of magical doorway. And, obviously, she must be able to open said doorway. DeeDee closed her eyes, calling up her inner light. When in doubt, she had found early on, the light could work with seeming autonomy. So, she let it do its thing.

There, she felt it, a little crack, a scratch in the roof of your mouth you don't feel unless your tongue rubs over it and once that happens, you just can't leave the thing alone. Se used her gift to work at the crack until she felt it widening, getting more defined. When she heard Lylo gasp, Dee knew she's hit pay dirt. Opening her eyes, she saw a door before her, set into the wall where nothing had been previously. On the door was a small, brass placard reading "Quad Lake". _A little obvious and Wonderland-ish, but it works._

She resisted the urge to open the door and make sure it didn't just open onto a brick wall, and turned, going back to the map. "Okay. So, Quad River." She traced the winding line with her eyes.

"If we get a boat at Quad Lake, we can take it down river. That'll cut our travel time by more than half."

Dee looked up to the Captain of the Guard and nodded. "Good idea. We'll ditch it when the river gets too shallow and go on foot." She pointed to the place on the map where the river stopped. There would only be a couple hours distance between there and the edge of the Deadly Desert. "I'm thinking we should take the desert at night." The Queen stated, looking to her companions for input. Lylo shrugged, looking like he'd agree with whatever she said. She was a queen after all. Zero nodded.

"Probably the best idea. I don't know what we'll do when the sun comes up and we're only half way across," he added unhappily. Dee shrugged.

"Nothing. We'll set up some kind of shade and wait for dusk." He nodded again, but didn't look any happier with the plan.

"And the Underground River…" He didn't even need to finish his thought. It was pretty easily conveyed that it was a bad situation all around, but there was nothing they could do otherwise. It was this or just stay here with James Hughes, Keeper of Pathways and let Oz burn. No one spoke again for a time, just looking at the map or the walls or nothing at all.

"Well, then," Hughes said suddenly, pulling out his pocket watch. "It's getting on towards lunch time." He rolled up the map and set it on a shelf on the bookcase closest to him.

"I thought you said time had no meaning here," Zero prodded, gesturing to the watch the Keeper was putting away. The old man bustled himself into the kitchen.

"It doesn't, young man, but you'll have to forgive an old recluse for clinging to familiar habits. My stomach is telling me it's getting close to lunch time, but my mind likes to check my watch and be sure. And it does my heart good when the two of them get along, you see," he said by way of explanation, moving around the kitchen, pulling plates and cups and flatware from drawers and cupboards.

DeeDee made her way back behind the screen, sitting down carefully on the side of the bed. She hated to wake the sleeping Elliot, not wanting to force the boy back into the harshness of a reality where his father had fallen at the hands of his mother. But he did have to try to eat something before they left, he would need his strength. She reached out and gently stroked her fingers through his wild curls, still baby soft. He made a small sound and stirred, a hand coming up to rub his eyes.

"Mother?" he asked, voice still heavy with sleep. She did not have the heart to contradict him.

"Elliot, Mr. Hughes is making us lunch before we have to leave. I want you to try to eat something, okay?" Dee told the boy in her gentlest tone. His dual-colored eyes were sad when he turned them to her, but he nodded and pushed back the coverlet.

"I'll try," he promised, taking her hand as he slid off the bed. She bent to kiss the top of his head, soft curls tickling her skin, then lead him back into the room proper. Just in time to see Hughes set an enormous platter in the middle of the table. It was empty, until he set the lid over it and lifted it off again. With a magic probably shared by the teapot, the platter was now covered in food. A pyramid of sandwiches took up the middle portion, vegetables and fruits piled to one side, crackers and cheese sharing the other with an assortment of sweet treats.

"Wow," Elliot exclaimed softly. Tugging Dee's hand now a little in his eagerness to get a closer look at the magical platter, the boy lead them to the table and sat on the couch once more. "How does it work?"

Hughes smiles indulgently and shrugged. "I have no idea, young highness. It was a gift and it seemed rather rude to ask at the time. Of course, later, it was simply too late." This last was said a little sadly as the keeper checked the table to be sure everyone had the proper utensils, which, of course, they did.

Elliot sighed in disappointment, watching as Dee put what really appeared to be a bologna sandwich on his plate, along with some grapes. The Queen herself was wondering just how Hughes knew that Elliot was royalty. Then it hit her that Hughes had been calling her "Your Majesty" and no one had told him she was a queen. Or had they? Lylo, maybe, while she was asleep?

"What exactly is the Keeper of Pathways?" Dee asked her host. He was just taking a sandwich for himself as she asked and she knew he would wait until he was seated to answer. It was just polite.

"I Keep the records of all the roads," he said simply, snapping his napkin across his lap. "The ones that exist now, have existed in the past, or will exist in the future. Since time has no meaning here, they are all the same."

"And where is here, anyway?" Zero chimed in with Dee's next question before she could.

"You know, I've wondered that myself from time to time," Hughes said thoughtfully, looking around the room as though he hadn't been there for who knew how long. "I'd imagine it's some kind of pocket dimension created specifically for the purpose I serve in it. Perhaps one day I will no longer be needed and it will be no more. Isn't that a gloomy thought?"

He chuckled and took a small bite of his sandwich. Dee looked to Elliot who was picking grapes off the stem, but not eating any of them. She laid a hand on his shoulder and nodded to the plate. The boy sighed and picked up the sandwich, taking the smallest bite he could get away with. He chewed unhappily and swallowed, then took another. The Queen gave his shoulder a little squeeze of gratitude and turned to her own meal. _Time to take your own advice. _Ugh, she really didn't want to eat either, but she knew she had to set a good example for Elliot. _Crap._

"How long…" Dee trailed off, rolling her eyes at herself. "Okay, that was gonna be a stupid question. How old were you when you became the Keeper?"

Hughes finished chewing his second bite and swallowed, wiping his mouth carefully with a napkin before speaking. "I'm afraid I can't answer that any better than your original question, Majesty. Nor would I be able to shed any light on who I was or what I did before I came to be the Keeper of Pathways. It has been so long, I cannot recall any longer. Part of me thinks perhaps I have always been here, as the Keeper. But I do not really _believe_ that. I must have been another man in another time. I do wonder, on occasion, if I miss my old life - whatever it was." He gave a wistful shrug and picked up his teacup and saucer, taking a sip.

"What do you do here, alone all the time?" DeeDee asked then, thinking it must be a horrible lonely existence. Hughes gestured to the walls of books lining his abode.

"I read, have tea, ponder the great mysteries of the universe," he said, looking perfectly at peace with his way of life.

"Why do you stay?" Zero demanded, his tone and the hard set of his jaw conveying how unbearable he would find the situation.

Hughes smiled indulgently at the Captain. "I've no wish to be anywhere else. I am not always alone, as you can see yourself. Visitors drop in from time to time. Some times I go for long spells without any guests and others I can't seem to find even a moment of peace for all the people stopping by." He set his teacup down. "Never so many at once as now, though." The Keeper chuckled to himself like this was a particularly amusing joke.

Dee looked down to see that Elliot had abandoned his sandwich after what couldn't be more than three bites. She bit back a sigh. She couldn't force the kid to eat, but he couldn't starve himself either. She'd just have to keep trying to push little bits of food on him as they went.

Once the meal was over, Hughes produced a large picnic basket from a cupboard in the kitchen. He filled it with even more sandwiches and fruit, wrapping up cheeses that would keep to go along with the rest, along with a jar of strawberry jam he produced from somewhere, and crackers carefully placed on top of the heavier things. He unrolled and folded the map, placing it into the basket as well. Dee thanked him for all his help, but Hughes waved her away, lamenting the fact that he had no shoes that would fit young Elliot - who was still wearing his slippers.

"Feel free to stop by any time," Hughes said cordially and DeeDee got the sense he actually meant it.

Zero insisted on going through her doorway first, in case of any threats. Dee didn't point out that it really wouldn't matter, since he'd have no way to warn them and they'd all just come through anyway. Then Lylo followed. Dee held tight to Elliot's hand, the heavy picnic basket hanging from the other. She nodded one last goodbye to The Keeper before she and the boy stepped through the doorway and fell through time and fell through space and finally found themselves just falling through the air as Dee realized she hadn't really thought where the doorway would lead other than Quad Lake.

"Shit!"

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**Meekly holds out a tin cup and gives it a single jiggle in hopes of reviews.**


	9. I Have My Story, You Have Yours

DeeDee and Elliot splashed down into the lake, narrowly avoiding Lylo below them. The queen came up sputtering. "Goddammit!" She reached for Elliot, who's hand had slipped from hers when they struck the water, and pulled him close.

"You okay?" She asked, coughing out the algae-tasting lake water. The boy wiped water from his eyes and nodded. Something bumped DeeDee in the back of her head, which turned out to be the picnic basket the Keeper had given them. It was floating atop the water and she wondered if it was waterproof.

"Your Majesty?" Zero called, swimming towards her and the boy. "Are you alright?" He asked them both. When they gave him a thumbs up, the Captain of the Guard pointed passed them. "The shore isn't far."

The man took hold of Elliot's upper arm, swimming along beside him and making sure the boy's head stayed above the water. DeeDee followed, pushing the basket ahead of her, hoping the food had not gotten soaked. On the rocky shore line, Zero picked Elliot up and carried him to a fallen log up on the grass beyond the stony beach. The young queen stumbled her way up to join them as Lylo made some very unhappy, half-growl, half-whiney sounds. He shook his limbs like a dog, spraying water far enough that the woman was glad he kept his distance. She knelt before the boy, taking his face in her hands and checking him over thoroughly.

"I'm fine!" he insisted in a slightly exasperated tone. He was fine, even though he looked like a little drowned mouse; raven locks doused and plastered to his head, pajamas hanging heavy on his slim frame. And no shoes.

"Lost your slippers in the lake?" she asked the obvious, chewing the inside of her cheek. The boy nodded, wiggling his toes. She couldn't help but smile and catch a toe between her fingers. He giggled softly, sorrow momentarily forgotten in the way of children.

"I'll carry him," Zero said, reaching for the boy. Elliot shied away, a pout coming to his fair features.

"I can walk," he insisted petulantly. "I'm not a baby."

"Your Highness-" Zero began in a reasoning tone, but Elliot gasped, looking scandalized.

"You're not supposed to call me that," he warned the Captain. DeeDee's brow furrowed in confusion. No one had contradicted Hughes when he'd called Elliot Highness. Of course, they'd all been a bit distracted at the time. She looked between the man and the boy questioningly.

"Why not?"

Elliot answered, sadness creeping back into his voice, bringing the companion of embarrassment along with it. "I'm not a prince."

A frown joined the young Queen's look of confusion. "Why do you say that, Elliot?" She asked gently. The boy hung his head like he had done something wrong and shrugged silently. "C'mon, kiddo, look at me." DeeDee cajoled, brushing her fingers against the child's chin encouragingly. He raised his head only slightly, not meeting her eyes, but did answer her. And she immediately felt her blood boil.

"Queen Illiancara says I'm not," he admitted ashamedly. She really wished Ambrose had let her knock that damned statue over.

"Well, she's wrong." The firmness of her tone brought Elliot's eyes back to hers in surprise. She ran her fingers through his drippy hair and leveled her gaze on his. "Your grandmother, the Queen, is a moron." Another gasp from the youngster, his one-off eyes widening in shock. She nodded for emphasis. "And the first thing I'm gonna do once I save her worthless a- backside, is tell her so to her stupid face."

Lylo looked properly horrified by the prospect, which DeeDee took as a sign it would be very enjoyable. Elliot just looked disbelieving. After all, Illiancara was the highest authority in the land and untouchable in the eyes of most everyone in the O.Z. - in Oz. It was about time she got a good kick in the ass, in this Slipper's opinion.

She sat back on her butt and pulled off her shoes. Elliot protested, but was ignored. "It's either wear these or get carried, dig?" DeeDee told him, eyebrow raised. He pouted, but relented. Girly shoes that would be mostly hidden by his sagging pajama pants' legs was far less embarrassing than being carried like an infant. As the young monarch stood, a sharp rock dug into the sole of her foot and she faltered. Zero's hand catching her elbow to balance her.

"Thanks." The Captain of the Guard nodded, one corner of his mouth quirked up in amusement. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up," she snarked, pulling from his grasp and - taking Elliot by the hand - hurried from the gravelly shoreline and onto the grassy land beyond. "Zero, are you familiar with his area?"

The man shrugged, looking around as if to find some point of reference. "I spent some time around here in my younger days. The Ozian Police Force's training camp is on the lake. But I haven't been back in years."

"We need to find a harbor or something. Someplace we can borrow a boat," DeeDee told him. Walking all the way to the Deadly Dessert was out of the question. Taking a boat down the river would cut their time dramatically.

"Borrow?" he parroted with that same amused look.

"Hey, I'm trying to be a good influence, here," DeeDee smirked at him, glancing at Elliot at her side who grinned conspiratorially. Zero gave a single chuckle and pointed at a dirt road not far off.

"If we follow that west, it should bring us into one of the harbors at Delta," he said. DeeDee nodded and they all trouped toward the road, then headed west, towards the setting suns.

"What's funny?" Elliot asked when DeeDee laughed to herself quietly for the third time.

"I've been wondering that myself," Zero chimed in. Lylo, who brought up the rear and spent his time looking unhappy with the whole situation, said nothing.

The woman shook her head. "I was just thinking about shoes."

"Shoes?" the boy and the man spoke in unison, in the same perplexed tone. Which caused her to laugh again.

"Did you hear about me, Elliot? How I was a slipper back in my O.Z.?" She'd only just caught herself from asking if his father had told him her story. The boy nodded, then shook his head, then shrugged. Dee snorted and rolled her eyes. "Well, when I was just a little girl, I was sent away from the Outer Zone to a place called Earth."

"I've heard of Earth!" he boy squeaked, eyes bright with interest.

"Well, I grew up there instead of the O.Z.. No one told me where I really came from, so when I finally went back to the Zone, it was kind of crazy. I _fell_ out of the _sky._" She nodded at his amazed look. "Not just that, but I lost my shoe!" She paused her walk and lifted one bare foot, wiggling her dirty toes for his amusement. "And no one there to carry me."

"No guards?"

"No guards," she shook her head, moving down the dusty road again. "I didn't even know I was a princess back then. I was all alone in a strange land and with only _one shoe._"

"What did you do?"

"I got captured by the Eastern Guild. They thought I was a spy for the evil witch that had taken over the O.Z. while I was gone on Earth." He listened with wide-eyed wonder as she told him about meeting a man with no brain and the evil witch's Longcoats and finding the man in the iron suit. "The witch had imprisoned him in there for being part of the resistance against her."

The rest of the story had to be put on hold as they could see the lights of a harbor village up ahead. Zero lead the way as they crept through the trees that lined the far side of the road, wanting to stay hidden for as long as possible before they made their move for the shoreline. All the fishermen were leaving the docks, heading home for dinner with their families after a long day on the lake. It took almost two hours before the harbor was empty, Zero keeping them all hidden away in some thick underbrush.

With nothing to distract him, Elliot was thinking about his father. DeeDee could tell, as his expression became more and more slack and despairing. All she could do was hold the boy close and stroke him comfortingly. The Slipper had healed after destroying the witch and bringing peace back to the O.Z. and those she loved. Or so she had thought. Now, however, old hatred for the crone sprung anew from the ashes; a phoenix of rage and pain and _hate._ God, how she wished she could kill the bitch with her own hands. Tear her apart, piece by piece.

Then, bring the scattered scraps back together so she could do it all over again.

"Let's go," Zero hissed, breaking her black reverie. The four of them darted across the road and padded as silently as possible onto the deserted dock. He led them to a smallish boat, probably for pleasure cruising rather than fishing for a living. Hustling his charges on board, Zero made quick work of the ties and jumped on board as the vessel started to drift away from his mooring. "Everyone stay down," he whispered, keeping the lights on the boat off as he let the current pull them farther from the shore, towards the mouth of the river.

When he finally did turn on the engine, the lights from the village were a far off twinkle across the blackness of the lake. The moon had not risen, which was hugely in their favor as he pushed the boat slowly towards the Quad River. Only when they were two hours up the river did Zero turn on the boats lights and let the others relax a little. DeeDee's stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch, reminding her that it was extremely empty and unhappy about that fact. She would have to force herself to eat more as Elliot, too.

The young Queen took the basket from the little below deck area - little more than a storage compartment with a tiny bathroom and a small cot that folded down from one wall - and brought it back up on deck. Elliot sitting Indian style beside her, she opened the basket and began pulling out sandwiches.

"You're gonna eat this time, right?" she told the boy more than asked him. He nodded, but looked shifty which tipped her off that she'd have to keep an eye on him to be sure he wasn't feeding the fishes more than himself.

"Tell me about the man in the iron suit," the boy requested as he unwrapped his sandwich, taking a bite reluctantly.

"Okay." DeeDee stood and handed Zero, still piloting the boat, a sandwich as well. Lylo was curled up in a corner, obviously not at home on a boat, poor guy. "Well, after turning off the time-loopy-thingamajig and seeing the man in the suit, I found a hammer and went to let him out. There was a big cloud of stinky smoke -bwoosh!" She waved her hands in a large, "smoke" motion, wrinkling her nose in distaste. The boy smiled as he took another bite of the sandwich. "And the man staggered out. He was head to toe gray, all covered in silvery dust, with a great big, bushy beard. And between you and me, kid, he didn't smell like roses." She winked, taking a bite of her own sandwich. The boy giggled softly, obviously picturing it in his head.

"He got himself cleaned up and told me and Glitch that he was heading for Central City, to find the Longcoat that had locked him up. Which was lucky, cause that's where we were headed, too. Course, he didn't want a Headcase and some girl with one shoe tagging along, but we talked him into it. And off we went, me and Glitch and Cain."

"Cain?" Zero piped up from behind the wheel, his tone a bit sharper than was called for as far as Dee was concerned.

"Yeah, Cain. Why?" she asked. He shook his head and wouldn't answer, which was telling enough. Dee pretended to accept that and moved on with the story. One thing at a time. First she had to get Elliot fed and then make sure he got some sleep. "Anyway, we had to go through the fields of the Papay." Elliot made a face at her ominous tone. "Oh, so your Papay Fields are a bunch of nice fruit trees, huh?" When he nodded, she smirked. "Well, in those days in the O.Z., they were a barren wasteland of dead trees and the Papay had become ferocious hunters, killing anyone they came across and _eating_ them." She laid the drama on thick and Elliot was just eating it up, along with his sandwich and some grapes.

"Not far into the dead orchard, I saw a big blue cocoon. I was all, 'what's that?' and went to take a look. There was someone _inside_ it. He was trapped and being _tenderized_ so the Papay could come back and eat him later. So, I convinced Cain to cut it open and let him out. It was a Viewer and boy was he grateful." Okay, so she was smudging the facts a little here and there. It made for a simpler, more flowing story. "But then, RAR!" she barked suddenly, making the boy jump and grin. "A Runner came out of nowhere and bit Cain on the leg! He shot it and we all took off running. Of course, Glitch and I had no idea where to run, and with Cain behind us, keeping off the Papay, we ended up on a _cliff. _The Viewer jumped off, into the river below, because it was our only escape. Then Glitch and Cain made me jump off, too!"

"Was it scary?"

DeeDee nodded emphatically. "Oh, yeah. Scared me so bad I fainted. I didn't wake up until we were all safe on land again and they had a fire going to warm us up." And a couple other things to warm her up that put a little longing tingle in her belly just now. But she pressed on. "The Viewer told us he'd been a prisoner of the evil witch. She was keeping Viewers and forcing them to help her find an Ancient stone called the Emerald of the Eclipse. He decided to come with us to Central City. His name was Raw and-"

"_Raw?"_ Lylo suddenly barked from his corner.

"What the Hell, man?" She was getting really sick of this randomly getting angry over her mentioning people's names.

"Raw is outcast!" Lylo practically snarled in outrage. "Coward who steals from his own people! Liar and thief! Raw is exiled from Viewer society forever!"

"Well, _my_ Raw is brave and a good friend. He's my highest Advisor," she told him, voice hard and defensive. The two of them stared at each other, both angry and resentful of the other's words. It was Lylo who looked away first. With a huff of irritation, Dee shook off the exchange. The point here was to calm the boy and put him at ease, not get everyone all riled up. "So… Where was I?"

"Going to Central City?" Elliot offered, still looking startled and uncomfortable by the adults arguing.

"Right," she nodded, trying to bring back the feeling of tranquility she had been cultivating before being so rudely interrupted. Next came the meeting of Antoine Demilo and the great and terrible Mystic Man. DeeDee carefully avoided naming the treacherous Longcoat who was tracking them and Cain was so eager to gain revenge against. As the group escaped Central City in the stolen wagon, the little prince's shoulders were drooping very tellingly.

"To be continued," the Queen said with a soft smile. "I think maybe we should try to get some sleep."

"But I want to know what happened," Elliot protested, his tone taking on the slightly whiney quality of all tired children.

"Tomorrow. Promise." What else was there to do on a boat drifting down river? Down in the hold there was a small cabin set up. Nothing fancy, but there was a padded bench that would work just fine as a bed for someone as small as Elliot. DeeDee sat with his head in her lap, combing her fingers through his hair gently until he drifted off to sleep. She was tired herself, but not so much that she thought there was much chance of actually getting any shut eye herself. Sitting alone with her thoughts was not her favorite place to be at present, so the young Queen made her way back up to the deck.

Zero was still at the wheel, looking stalwart as ever. It was so surreal, Dee stopped to stare at him for a moment and just take it in.

"What?" The Captain of the guard asked, apparently feeling her eyes on him. She shrugged.

"You don't want to know." She had almost told him the truth. Or perhaps a semblance of the truth. But no one really wants to know that had things worked out differently, they'd have ended up a murderous bastard. "Tell me about Cain," she found herself asking. He had reacted - or overreacted - to her mentioning the name twice now and keeping curiosity in check had never been her strong suit.

"What about him?" Zero shifted uncomfortably, brows furrowing, lips turning down in a frown.

"That's what I'm asking you. Every time I mention him, you get all… uptight." She could see his jaw working, teeth grinding together as he looked out over the water. After a bit more silence, the man glanced at the Queen and found her still watching him, waiting for him to out with it. He sighed.

"I knew a Cain," he admitted. DeeDee felt her stomach knot and suddenly wished she had not asked him at all.

"Knew?"

Zero nodded. "We were on the Mystic Man's protection detail. I was pretty young; ambitious. It was my first big assignment and he kind of took me under his wing."

"Wyatt Cain?" Her mouth was dry now, fingers cold for no physical reason. Again, the man nodded.

"You know him?"

"He's my husband."

Zero looked at her in confusion. "I thought you were married to your dimension's Ambrose."

"I am," DeeDee insisted softly. "It's a non-conventional arrangement."

"I see." He licked his lips, thinking something over in his head. His tone seemed to be aiming for nonchalance, but missed the target by quite a bit when he asked, "And Adora?"

"She died. Before I freed Cain from the suit." Apparently, he'd been hoping for a different answer. His shoulders fell slightly and she could see the sadness in his gaze. "Here?"

Zero shook his head. "No. Five years ago a fever swept over the realm." He paused, fighting the emotion the memory was bringing up in him. "A lot of people died."

"Is that what happened to Cain?"

The man wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and shook his head again, looking haunted. "No, Cain died during the incident. We were supposed to be guarding the Mystic Man, so we were all there that day, but no one knew what he was planning. When he couldn't control the Stone, it nearly brought the palace down on top of us. Cain shoved me out of the way when a pillar fell. He saved my life, but he… he didn't make it."

DeeDee felt sick, horrified thinking what could have happened to her beloved tinman. She had to concentrate hard to remember that her Wyatt Cain was alive and safe, back home in her O.Z.. Probably sitting in the nursery, watching Button sleep.

"I knew he had a wife and son. Jeb was just a kid." He was frowning deeply now, eyes far off as he was lost in the memory. "I wanted to do the right thing. Watch over them. Do what Cain would have done for me, if our places were switched. But Adora and I got too close. Jeb blamed me for his father's death, said I was trying to steal his family." He shook his head sadly. Dee could see a younger version of Jeb reacting that way.

"If it helps, I don't think Wyatt would have felt that way," she offered softly. And if anyone would know, she would, right? It was hard to believe that this man who was trying to hard to be decent and honorable was a few bad decisions away from the monster she had known in her world.

"You remind me of him," she said, having just realized it herself. That was why he was sometimes so familiar. He reminded her of Cain. Zero looked at her then, eyes widening slightly in surprise. She could tell he was pleased and humbled by her statement. She'd have to remember to make up a name for the traitorous Longcoat in her story when she continued it tomorrow. This Zero had a hard enough time dealing with Jeb's angry, adolescent accusations. He obviously had feelings for Adora, it was written all over his face. It would be cruel for him to find out that in another life he not only stabbed his mentor in the back, but murdered the woman he cared for as well.

What was it Glitch had said that first day? That's life in the O.Z., tougher and tougher.


End file.
